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This entry covers my
listening from April 17th to April 23rd, 2026. Writing it up a couple of weeks
late made it easier to see what actually stayed.
Following on from week
#16, the same idea continues: depth over movement, focusing on the artist
rather than constant movement onto the next release. Instead of moving between
new releases, I stayed where one held and worked backward from there. Full
catalogues, full albums, repetition — that shift defined this week.
At a glance, the numbers
contracted again. Total plays reached 484, with 14 new albums (down
71%) and 141 new tracks (down 22%). Only 2 artists featured (down
97%) — not a lack of options, but a result of the depth of each artist’s
catalogue. Immolation alone has 12 albums, which took time to move through
properly.
Total listening reached 1
day, 9 hours (down 36%), while average daily plays rose to 69 (up 12%),
peaking on April 20th with 106 plays (up 14%). Longer sessions replaced
movement, and most new entries didn’t hold past the first pass.
Once the week settled, it narrowed quickly. Two albums triggered it: Immolation — Descent and Battlegrave — Enslavement, both holding under repetition and pushing the listening backward into each catalogue.
Immolation dominated
the week through a full catalogue run. Acts of God led with 90 plays,
followed by Descent (60). From there it tightened: Atonement
and Majesty and Decay (44), Kingdom of Conspiracy (41),
and Shadows in the Light (26). The remainder settled into shorter
runs, with Harnessing Ruin (19), Close to a World Below
(18), Failures for Gods (17), Unholy Cult (17),
and Here in After (13) with Dawn of Possession
(10) sitting at the base of the run
Acts of God
held as the top album. From it, Attrition surfaced as the most
played track with 8 plays — not a spike, just confirmation.
Battlegrave followed
a similar pattern, with Enslavement as the entry point before descending
into their three-album catalogue. Cavernous Depths led with 31 plays,
matched by Enslavement (31), with Relics of a Dead Earth
(24) rounding it out.
Fewer plays, more weight.
At album level, repetition did the sorting. Acts of God led clearly,
with Immolation’s catalogue — anchored by Descent — forming the upper
tier, while Battlegrave reinforced the pattern rather than breaking it.
Compared to last week, the difference isn’t scale, it’s depth. New music still matters, but only as a trigger. Once something holds, the listening moves backward, not onward.
Less drift. More
repetition. More time inside the catalogues.
Once the week settled, it narrowed quickly. Two albums triggered it: Immolation — Descent and Battlegrave — Enslavement, both holding under repetition and pushing the listening backward into each catalogue.
Compared to last week, the difference isn’t scale, it’s depth. New music still matters, but only as a trigger. Once something holds, the listening moves backward, not onward.
Artists that Defined my Week
1).
⚔️ Artist: Immolation (397 plays)
🩸 New Title: Descent
⚔️ Genre/tags: Death metal, technical death metal, dissonant death metal
Immolation —
Albums (personal) ranking:
11). Harnessing Ruin (2005) (19 plays)
10). Majesty and Decay (2010) (44 plays)
9). Failures for Gods (1999) (17 plays)
8). Unholy Cult (2002) (17 plays)
7). Here In After (1996) (13 plays)
6). Kingdom of Conspiracy (2003) (41 plays)
5). Dawn of Possession (1991) (8 plays)
4). Descent (2026) (60 plays)
3). Close to a World Below (2000) (18 plays)
2). Acts of God (2020) (90 plays)
1). Atonement (2017) (44 plays)
Formed in Yonkers, New
York in the late 1980s, Immolation are a band that have
always been held in high esteem, often viewed as sitting at the top of the
death metal pantheon. Fellow music fans have encouraged me to check them out
for years, and with the release of their 2017 album Atonement, I finally
did just that, picking up the vinyl after being struck by the sheer impact of
the record.
Over the course of this
week — and after many social media posts — two things seem clear. First, a
common criticism is that they don’t have that defining track, and that some
albums suffer from dense or questionable production. Second, the fan favourite record
seems to be Close to a World Below. With that in mind, and with limited
prior knowledge of the band, I came into this run relatively open.
Subjectively speaking,
even with my listening limited to the last week, Immolation don’t come across as a single-track band to me
at all. If anything, they feel designed to resist that kind of listening.
Admittedly, I did start
to feel Immolation fatigue as the week went
on. Not because the quality dropped, but because the catalogue is so consistent
and dense. That fatigue also sharpened my listening experience, because the
records I enjoyed most were the ones that continued to hold my attention once
everything started to blur together.
Working through the
catalogue, Dawn of Possession (1991) establishes the foundation. For
some, their discography doesn’t get better than this. It’s raw, aggressive, and
direct — closer to early death metal’s physical impact than the suffocating
atmosphere the band would later specialise in. It’s easy to see why it’s
considered a classic. For me, though, it felt more like a starting point than
somewhere I stayed this week, despite placing it at #5 in my personal ranking.
That foundation deepens
on Here in After (1996). The sound becomes more oppressive and less
immediate. I’m not a death metal veteran, but to my ears it feels like the band
stepping fully into something more suffocating. Even so, it didn’t pull me back
repeatedly — it felt transitional rather than definitive.
Failures for Gods
(1999) sharpens that identity further, though it’s also where the production
debate becomes harder to ignore. Some hear flaws; others hear texture. I sit
somewhere in the middle. I understand what it adds, but it didn’t make me
return to it more than other records did.
Then comes Close to a
World Below (2000), and this is the album most people point to as the
definitive Immolation release. It’s easy to
understand why — the atmosphere is suffocating, the structure feels deliberate,
and everything clicks into place. For me, it landed high in my ranking, but not
necessarily in repetition. It feels monumental — something I entered and
absorbed — but not something I looped endlessly. That said, listening to twelve
albums in seven days is heavy going; at a certain point, the density alone
becomes overwhelming.
Unholy Cult (2002)
continues that refinement, tightening the sound without losing its imact. It’s
often regarded as one of their strongest releases, and I can see the argument.
In my listening, though, it remained part of the core rather than rising above
it.
With Harnessing Ruin
(2005) and Shadows in the Light (2007), the catalogue starts to feel
less like isolated standout records and more like a continuous body of work.
These albums reinforce the identity rather than reshape it. For me, they made
more sense within the run than on their own.
Majesty and Decay
(2010) is where things begin to feel more controlled. The density is still
there, but it’s handled with greater precision and I would suggest this is due
to a tighter and cleaner mix. This was one of the albums I spent more time
with, even if it didn’t rank as highly. It feels like a key step toward the
refinement of the later material.
That refinement continues
on Kingdom of Conspiracy (2013), which feels confident and stable — not
trying to reinvent anything, just executing the Immolation formula at a high level.
Atonement
(2017) is where everything aligns for me. It’s the clearest expression of what
I want from Immolation — weight and dissonance,
but with enough clarity to stop it collapsing into an unlistenable mess. It didn’t
just hold my attention under repetition — it improves with it. That’s what
pushed it to the top of my ranking.
Finally, Descent
(2026) continues that trajectory. It doesn’t feel like a reinvention, but it
doesn’t need to. It feels like a continuation of the last few albums,
tightening the same ideas without losing the core identity. It was one of the
key entry points for my listening this week, and it held long enough to justify
that.
Looking across the full
catalogue, what stands out isn’t variation, but consistency. Immolation don’t move dramatically
between albums — they refine. The differences are subtle at first, but they
become clearer the longer you stay inside the discography. That said, I
wouldn’t recommend doing what I did and compressing it all into a single week.
Each album needs time to fully reveal itself.
Based on how I listened
this week, they aren’t a band built around individual tracks. The more you stay
with them, the more the albums make sense as complete works rather than
collections of moments.
And more than anything,
30-plus years in, the quality hasn’t dipped. There are no obvious low points —
only records that reveal their true colours the more time you invest.
2)
⚔️
Artist: Battlegrave (87 plays)
🩸 New Title: Enslavement
⚔️ Genre/tags: death metal, extreme
metal, metal, thrash metal
Battlegrave — Albums (personal) ranking
2). Enslavement (2026) (31 plays)
1). Cavernous Depths (2022) (31 plays)
You know — or at least
you get a pretty strong indication — that an album is going to hit hard when
the drumming alone elevates it. That’s exactly what happened here with
Battlegrave’s third album, Enslavement. I mean, my god — the chops on
display are ridiculous. Not just tight, not just fast — genuinely inhuman at
points. The double bass work in particular is relentless in a way that stops
being impressive and just becomes overwhelming.
And then you realise why.
The drums on Enslavement
aren’t even from a permanent band member — they’re handled by Robin Stone,
who’s worked across multiple extreme metal projects, most notably, (the) Amenta. That
explains a lot. It doesn’t feel like a step up by accident — it feels like a
specialist coming in and pushing everything to the limit. The performance isn’t
just tight, it’s surgical. It dominates the record.
That was my entry point,
and it set the tone for everything that followed.
Working backwards from
there, Cavernous Depths (2022) sits at the top of my ranking — not
because it overwhelmed me immediately in the same way, but because it just
fucking fucks you up. The drumming here was written and performed by 66Samus, (I
mean did you listen to his gravity blasts on Empath by Devin Towensend) someone
who’s already well known for precision and technical control, and you can hear
that difference instantly. There’s still speed, still aggression, but it feels
more measured, more deliberate.
That balance is what
pushed it to #1 for me. Enslavement hits hardest on impact, but Cavernous
Depths is the one that sustains it.
Going back to the start, Relics
of a Dead Earth (2018) feels like the band in a more direct,
crossover-leaning space. There’s a hardcore edge there for sure — crossover
thrash, S.O.D.-type aggression — and straight out of the gates, the riffs
absolutely eviscerate the listener.
The drumming here comes
from Kevin Talley (check out the self titled Chimaira record), and that track record shows. It’s
aggressive, punchy, and relentless, but it’s also grounded. Compared to the
later albums, it feels less technical and more direct — less about showcasing
extremity and more about driving the songs forward. It suits the record
perfectly, but it also highlights where the band would go next.
That progression is what
stands out most across the three albums — and interestingly, a lot of it is
tied to the drums.
Relics of a Dead Earth
is raw and immediate, driven by direct, forceful playing.
Cavernous Depths tightens that into something more controlled and precise.
Enslavement takes the brakes off and pushes everything to an extreme.
Enslavement takes the brakes off and pushes everything to an extreme.
Cavernous Depths tightens that into something more controlled and precise.
Enslavement takes the brakes off and pushes everything to an extreme.
It’s not just songwriting
evolution — it’s a change in how the band channels energy.
What I keep coming back
to is how rhythm-driven Battlegrave are. The guitars
absolutely crush, but everything feels anchored to the drums. Rather than riffs
standing independently, they’re locked into the percussive movement underneath
them. That’s what gives the band their identity. It’s not about standout hooks
or moments — it’s about sustained pressure.
And that’s why the catalogue works best when you run it in reverse like this. Starting with Enslavement, then stepping back into Cavernous Depths, then back again into Relics of a Dead Earth doesn’t just show progression — it shows how the same core idea gets refined, reshaped, and ultimately intensified.
In terms of my own
ranking, Cavernous Depths and Enslavement ended up tied on plays,
but they function differently. Enslavement is the album that grabs you
immediately — the one that forces your attention. Cavernous Depths is
the one that keeps it. That difference is subtle, but it’s what gave it the
edge for me.
Relics of a Dead Earth
sits lower, but not because it lacks quality. It’s just earlier in the
development. The aggression is there, the intent is clear, but compared to what
follows, it feels slightly less defined. It’s the sound of a band finding its
footing rather than standing on it.
Looking across the
discography as a whole, Battlegrave feel like a band that are
still building upward rather than settling. There isn’t a dip — just a
trajectory. Each release takes what came before and pushes it further,
tightening the execution without losing the raw edge. I can only salivate at the prospect of who
will play on their next record?
And then you realise why.
Cavernous Depths tightens that into something more controlled and precise.
Enslavement takes the brakes off and pushes everything to an extreme.
Enslavement takes the brakes off and pushes everything to an extreme.
Cavernous Depths tightens that into something more controlled and precise.
Enslavement takes the brakes off and pushes everything to an extreme.
And that’s why the catalogue works best when you run it in reverse like this. Starting with Enslavement, then stepping back into Cavernous Depths, then back again into Relics of a Dead Earth doesn’t just show progression — it shows how the same core idea gets refined, reshaped, and ultimately intensified.
⚔️🩸 The New Flesh Index Playlist #17
(30 biggest tracks of the week)
