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I remember that when Dawn of Possession came out it made quite a stir to those
of us who cared, I even bought Rob the T-Shirt as an unholy gift that year.
Well, Immolation appeard to disappear for a while, even longer for me as I
completely missed their Here in After release for years. Well, enter 1999 and
Failures for Gods appears on my doorstep. The first thing that I have to comment
on is that the packaging is nothing short of amazing, Andreas Marschall creating
a landscape of terror which avoids entering that cheesy realm that so many
covers lie in. All this would be for naught though if the album didn't stand
up on it's own musical merits, and in fact, it does. To pigeon-hole them, I would
say that Immolation is a *highly* technical death metal band, complete with
dissonant riffs, blast/break drumming, and Ross Dolan's subterranean vocal
chords. This is so technical in fact that you may feel lost upon listening,
for these guys aren't interested in "hooks", just to make one Hell of a heavy
album. So, it's technically proficient, excellent packaging, what's keeping
it from being a must have? Well, honestly, I don't like the drum sound at all,
which is a true shame, as Hernandez's performance warrants a much better
sound than this. It doesn't ruin the record or anything as extreme as that, but
it is noticable. I guess this is what the band was going for though, as
they feel as though this is the best production that they have had.
Maybe so, but it takes away from the overall album for me. Lyrically, Dolan
has outdone himself again, being a prophet for the coming armaggeddon and
voicing some theories which will strike at the very heart of the "moral"
majority. Lots of hidden treasures here as well, as I'm spinning the
album more after time, finally unravelling what the band has accomplished.
7 1/2 out of 10
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