To describe Immolation in brief would be “straight-up”, “on-the-face”, and ”crunching”, to name a few. With a career spanning over the better part of two decades, nine full-length releases, and a myriad of live shows later, these men from the Big Apple have well made their way into becoming one of the most well-known and premier death metal bands. Immolation are renowned for their innovative, original and influential “old school” death metal bands from the early 90’s. Since their 1991 classic ‘Dawn Of Possession’, Immolation have established themselves as masters of churning out pounding and brutal music themed with blasphemy and politics. With their trademark sound of distinct guitar structures, drums that echo of blast beats and vocalist Ross Dolan’s signature growls; Immolation have transcended well above the zenith of conventional death metal and are on the path of legendary. This prolific band has an impressive formula for success has been simple: stay true, stay strong.

‘Kingdom Of Conspiracy’ has Immolation doing what they do best: playing pristine death metal, albeit with a lot more clarity. The band has not strayed far from their archetypal sound and has come out with 10 tracks that clock just about 40 minutes. One could also call this an extension of the band’s previous works, at least in terms of songwriting and musicality. Yet, what makes ‘Kingdom Of Conspiracy’ stand tall is the superior production. Many die-hard Immolation fans would complain past releases to have a lackluster sound, but ‘Kingdom Of Conspiracy’ can boast of a clean quality in the mixing and recording. Although Immolation is a highly competent band, bustling with talent both as songwriters and performers, the sound production on ‘Kingdom Of Conspiracy’ takes the band to a whole new level. A one-time hearing assures the listener of the record quality and is hence a full experience. Musically, Immolation are, yet again, in top form. Robert Vigna’s guitar work has always been the driving force behind Immolation’s sound and it is no different this time around. With an awesome mix of pinched harmonics, uber fast tremolo picking and complex rhythm patterns, Immolation surely pass off for a technical band, but for their gut-wrenching vocals and blast beats. ‘Kingdom Of Conspiracy’ is full of wonderfully disjointed structuring and unique solos. The rest of the band follows suit with the intensity and proficiency running in tandem throughout. Lyrically, political dominance echoes throughout the theme of this album which is relatable to the current scenario world over.

In my opinion, these are THE best songs Immolation have come out with and may or may not in the future. Well written, comprehensive and complementing each other, all 10 tracks embed together in the overall vibe and flow to the album. The stand-out tracks, according to me are “Indoctrinate”, “The Great Sleep”, “All That Awaits Us” and of course, the title track, “Kingdom Of Conspiracy”.

Rating : 7.5/10