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Class 6(66)
Immolation: Failures for gods
24/03/08 || The Duff
Released: 1999
Introduction:
I’ve never been the biggest Immolation fan, despite praise coming at them from every direction and accolades expressing an extremely important contribution to death metal’s earliest developments. At one point some years ago I had “Unholy Cult”, which I thought failed to justify the incredibly positive feedback the album was receiving upon its release; several years after I purchased “Harnessing Ruin”, which was an entertaining release with many a catchy riff, and something which would later encourage me to try out the earliest classic effort from the band – an album I figured deserved everything bestowed upon it, yet still suffered some drawbacks, namely a dull drummer, talentless vocalist, and a reduced brooding atmosphere as witnessed on later efforts. I found “Failures for Gods” for less than four pounds, and reasoned that even if the album was shit, it was a meager sacrifice to present you, the valued reader, yet another opinion that means more than your average diplomatic policy on World affairs. On “Failures for Gods”, all of the band’s past faults have been put to right, and I’ve discovered an album that may well put Immolation amongst my favourite bands.
Songwriting:
10. The thing about Immolation is that the riffs collide with each other, and don’t quite necessarily flow as fluently as material written by the band’s contemporaries, yet you feel as though this is an integral part to their nature, and so it’s important not to have things any other way. The music is best described as twisted and very, very dark – what I dig most is that nothing is truly captivating; it’s just a long chain of “nice ideas” that, when viewed as a whole, forms something so captivating it puts Immolation far and beyond excellence as one of the most original death metal outfits to ever have been spawned, I would say even matching the uniqueness and talent as exhibited by bands like Death and Morbid Angel, pioneers of the death metal sound – no one band has managed to emulate what Immolation have brought to the scene so distinctive is their music.
Production:
9. The production is great on “Failures for Gods”; this music doesn’t demand anything razor sharp, and so the dirty, still balls-heavy sound awarded the album is very appropriate. The death metal, low-end riffs are real grimy, rumbling masses; the drums sound scrappy as fuck, but because of Mike Hernandez’s skill, this does not detract at all from the overall product, but instead adds a very fitting, unsettling feel to the album’s already dark nature.
Guitars:
10. I don’t think I would be wrong stating that Robert Vigna is one of death metal’s most respected guitar players. The riffs here are contorted, thrown out at the listener with exceptionally strange time signatures, and rendered with a darkness that closes in around the listener; combined with the feeling that one should be marching to the hypnotic nature of the music (very classically-influenced), and Immolation have a very unique, winning formula on their hands. There is a natural swaying rhythm to each riff, yet somehow none of it is repetitive; this is also very catchy music, but not in the obvious sense, making Immolation one of the heaviest bands to play within the sub-genre, always with the hook in mind but the overall drive to be vicious and foreboding. I’m not sure quite where the band left things with “Here In After”, often considered the band’s finest work, but I do know that they kicked it up a notch from the debut on “Failures for Gods”, and really seemed to have found their true sound which has thus far remained unchanged.
Vocals:
9. I don’t know who writes the material for the band (I believe most of it is Vigna’s work), but Ross Dolan is one of metal’s most outstanding figures for being able to cover this shit and sing in one of the most ghoulish tones I’ve heard. I can’t believe it’s the same guy from “Dawn of Possession” – far more guttural than on the band’s debut, I’m guessing in part due to the production, Ross sounds absolutely visceral, filled with a hatred for all that is holy.
Bass:
9. Great bass playing – this stuff is real fucken tough to play, yet Ross Dolan manages to pull it off and retain a convincing metal pose, all the while covering the vocals. Tricky time changes to this degree must be pretty daunting on a four-string instrument, yet Ross has been with the band all this time, and so the guy clearly knows what he’s doing. The fact that I’ve written about a small paragraph worth of bullshit to explain the bass playing on a death metal album is indicative of how much I admire him.
Drums:
9. Mike Hernandez is an astounding drummer, making up for a lack of dexterity and technique with an awesome creativity. A lot of really cool fills, efficient blasting and capable foot work, all combined with an ability to weave every beat into the tapestry of brooding guitars/bass while adding to the atmosphere makes the guy an awesome asset to the Immolation sound. I didn’t really mind Craig Smilowski on “Dawn of Possession”, but I felt he was the weakest link in the chain (apparently he was a fill-in at the time), and most of the time felt the music demanded more; well, now Immolation have the one missing element originally holding them back filled in.
Lyrics:
8. Nothing new – Christ hating, darkness will prevail, etc. It competently fits in with the music.
Cover art:
10. Every time I’ve seen this album for sale, it’s always been with a miniature gif of the album cover; I always thought the colours for the cover were a bit unimaginative, and that overall the picture depicting something on the bland side – I considered it to possibly reveal similarities to Katatonia’s “Tonight’s Decision”, with some traveler of sorts walking under a street light. Holy bananas, was a wrong on such an account, for the cover to “Failure for Gods” has got to be one of the coolest I’ve seen, and some formidable piece of artwork. If you’re generally a fan of Satan and all his evil-doings, then you can’t go wrong with this; poised over a crowd of suffering humans having realized their day of reckoning is upon them, this beast stands towering defiantly with a staff in one hand and a tail that would suggest something equally impressive swinging pendulum-like between his legs the other side – yes, another penis joke, but it’s Satan, so it stands. Also of note is that at the back, you have an awesome take of the original Immolation logo (for those missing it on the front cover), with the band being mean and thrashing it out. Good, good stuff – the best.
Logo:
3. I have to give this a three because it isn’t the original logo. Sure, the original looks great all blown up and fiery on the back, but it ain’t on the front, dammit! A friend of mine used to repeat the band name as a means to piss me off, thinking that death metal was stupid – I then proceeded to immolate him. I don’t know what that means, but I know he didn’t enjoy it, and well damn it all if this doesn’t mean the original logo should have been used, ya get me?
Booklet:
10. Lyrics in a very attractive font, some awesome mini-images of suffering, demons and pain, a pic of Christ crucified and fucken decapitated! Fear in the eyes of the non-believers, some pictures of the bandmembers looking metal as fuck – Immolation have really made it a simple yet very cool booklet; there’s better artwork/layouts out there, but fuck it – combined with the whole package makes this a ten.
Overall and ending rant:
10. Awesome, dark, one of Immolation’s finest albums (considering they haven’t changed much over time, I would put this down as one of three essential releases by the band). Although death metal of this style does take some time to adjust to, the rewards are truly worth the hours getting used to the unusual time signatures and inhospitable production (it’s not as though it’s low-budget). Can’t say anything else, so I’ll leave it at that, tattle-tat-ti-titties.
