Artist: Immolation
Title: Providence
Type: EP
Label: Scion AV

Out of nowhere and smack on the heels of last year’s colossal ‘Majesty and Decay’ full-length, the New York death metal veterans almost casually throw out this 5-track EP as a free download courtesy of Scion AV. It’s a bit embarrassing, really. Embarrassing that 22 years on, the fires of creativity that drive Immolation seem to be burning as brightly as ever, putting paid to the theory that the rage that drives extreme metal bands diminishes with age; embarrassing at just how much better they are at the moment than their floundering contemporaries; and embarrassing at why, frankly, they aren’t one of the biggest death metal acts on the planet right now.

Stand this 5-tracker up against the abysmal, misguided effort that Morbid Angel plopped out earlier this year and the scenario is even more laughable. MA took eight years to cobble that pile of dung together – Ross Dolan, Bob Vigna and the guys have released ‘Providence’ barely eighteen months after their last album and short though it is, the quality and power within is face-smacking in its concentrated intensity. Those who’ve been keeping track on Immolation over the last few years will need no introduction to what’s on offer here – jagged, dark, thunderous, aggressive yet laden with hooks, its death metal in its most arresting form. Brutal without being thick, technical without being masturbatory and charged with a genuine sense of overbearing menace, ‘Providence’ is a real showcase of a band STILL at their peak.

From the ‘out-of-the-blocks’ assault of ‘What They Bring’ (which almost acts as an Immolation ‘best of’ in its three-and-a-half-minutes running time given the seamless, dizzying switching between elephantine lurch and frenzied blasts) to the subtle, synth-accented lurch of ‘Illumination’ to the title tracks relentless stomp, this is pure, fat-free death metal of the highest order. Distilled Immolation if you will. If standards continue to be maintained across a full-length (looming next year apparently) then God help the rest of them. That they can pull this off live with ease is just the icing on the cake. Not much more need be said really other than the best old-school death metal band around today have pulled it off yet again. Get involved.

http://www.myspace.com/immolation

Frank Allain

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