ALBUM REVIEW: Imprecation – In Nomine Diaboli

Texas Death Metal legends IMPRECATION are back with a new album of blasphemous carnage, out via Dark Descent Records on October 14th.

Churns into life with low-tuned riffing opening a chasm of bestial rage. This pugnacious and gnarly riff is met with dastardly leads, ferocious drumming and maniacal vocals, joining in a piercing spearhead of venomous aggression to launch us headlong into the abyssal depths. The firestorm of percussive blows and meaty stringed artillery perfectly harkens back to when Black, Death and Thrash were separated only by geography and theme, thusly presenting extremity in all of its glorious facets in the most demonic sense possible. Scorching, vitriolic and as enraged as ever, it is clear Imprecation have stuck to their guns since their inception many moons ago as they deliver total carnage with unholy incantations and sadistic spells aplenty. The production is hazy, warped and sickeningly heavy, with no over-compressed or click and fix corner-cutting to destroy the untamed and feral character of the music which shines as brightly in the bottomless pits as ever. In summation, the opening of this record should certainly have you hooked.

Lumbering like some monolithic beast, there is this superbly clumsy quality to some of the slower parts which feels genuinely intimidating before a lurking evil stirs up and drops us into fits of spasming, thrashing force. The dynamics that play off of each-other create something very volatile and exciting while retaining a consistence through the hard playing and morbid aesthetics that are palpable to the point of a rancid smell of decomposing flesh and sulphur fill the air. This cacophony of noisy and chaotic material feels genuine in all of its bludgeoning excellence, like it was birthed out of necessity from some malevolent force.

The drudging menace of the album lasts an ideal forty minutes which allows its hostility to unfurl in a resplendent display of savagery without losing any impact over its course. Ushering you into the meanness of tracks like “Devil’s Furnace” with a more subtly callous methodology surrounding it, wherein one may feel they know the suffering around the corner, but cannot truly understand until it is too late and upon them. While utilising plenty of original ideas, there is still that malicious and primitive playing that can never stagnate, giving and infectious quality to the aggression of the barbarity at hand. The way in which some of the more eerie moments occur with biblically oppressive synths and slower guitars allow the clunky bass to ring out in a way that is just sublime. It may seem a tiny thing, but its those tiny things that just get the blood pumping before we descend unwarned into the frenzied violence that is “Forward The Spears”. As the record nears its end, it does not falter, in fact it feels they cut away all of the fat when executing this mammoth of monstrosities to the point where each move feels calculated, precise and yet animalistically charged.

A new album from a band with such a monolithic legacy of excellence can sometimes incur worry as well as enthralment. Some return only to scar their once glorious art with a meagre and worthless output. Thankfully Imprecation (as we heard on their last record too), still has that fire in the belly which renders them superb at delivering a refined, ruthless and tormenting Death Metal record as magnificently as ever. The bringers of sickness return triumphant and stoic.