Review by Adam M on April 10, 2025.

Immolation – Unholy Cult

This album sees Immolation tightening the screws on their brand of death metal and releasing of their mere well-rounded platters to date. The songs are chunkier than on previous releases and carry a good deal of weight to them. Along with Close to a World Below, this carries some of the more memorable songs in the band’s discography. There is a tendency to be huger and more punishing than on earlier releases.

In terms of musicianship, this is better produced and has more developed instrumental segments than on earlier releases. Guitars are crunchy and punishing and really make their mark upon the listener. Drums are pounding and form a nice backdrop to the music. Vocals are fierce and fit atop the music nicely. All in all this is one of the better album in the band’s career.

If there is a flaw to be found on the album it is how it fails to surpass their other masterpieces Majesty and Decay and Close to a World Below. It is another strong entry in the band;s discography, but doesn’t really stand out in any particular way either. This is another solid entry into the band;s discography and a good example of death metal performed properly. Fans of the band will be well served to check this out as it is one of the band's stronger releases.

Rating 7.5/10

Review by Allan on December 7, 2002.

Nowadays when I listen to death metal I’m fairly skeptical. There are so many bands creeping out from every single nation that it’s overwhelming; finding a good band is like finding a good album in a mainstream record store. Look long enough and you’ll eventually stagger across something absolutely worthy of your attention, and for 2002 Immolation’s “Unholy Cult” is amongst the very best.

I honestly don’t know exactly what it is about Immolation and their new album, “Unholy Cult”, that make it so appealing. Initially “Unholy Cult” might come off as a typical, run of the mill death metal album that doesn’t bring anything new to the table. To an extent, that might be true, but if you listen a lot more closely to “Unholy Cult”, you realize that there is quite a bit more than can be picked up from Immolation than the typical tried and true way.

Quite a bit of the riffing is completely off the death metal base, often touching in the area of rock. The guitars don’t sound like what you’d typically hear from a death metal band, yet everything they do just screams pure, blistering death metal. The riffs, as well as everything else found on “Unholy Cult”, are downright sinister. Despite the fact that pretty much all of “Unholy Cult” feels absolutely threatening, it somehow holds the quality of being catchy. Not in a bad way, of course, but just the fact that everything you hear on “Unholy Cult” will be sucked up by your brain like it’s a sponge. It’s certainly not limited to the guitars – Ross Dolan’s vocals are amongst the best in the genre, and Alex Hernandez’ drumming is very apocalyptic.

Immolation has this uniqueness about them, but at the same time what you hear on “Unholy Cult” has a feel of familiarity. Make no mistake about it, Immolation is pure death metal, but they manage sound unlike other acts.

Bottom Line: “Unholy Cult” is an album that doesn’t lose Immolation a shred of credibility when it comes to their position in the modern death metal movement, yet at the same time Immolation has put together an album that is well above what their contemporaries are doing.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 9
Production: 9
Originality: 9
Overall: 9

Rating: 9 out of 10

Review by Adam M on April 10, 2025.

Immolation – Unholy Cult

This album sees Immolation tightening the screws on their brand of death metal and releasing of their mere well-rounded platters to date. The songs are chunkier than on previous releases and carry a good deal of weight to them. Along with Close to a World Below, this carries some of the more memorable songs in the band’s discography. There is a tendency to be huger and more punishing than on earlier releases.

In terms of musicianship, this is better produced and has more developed instrumental segments than on earlier releases. Guitars are crunchy and punishing and really make their mark upon the listener. Drums are pounding and form a nice backdrop to the music. Vocals are fierce and fit atop the music nicely. All in all this is one of the better album in the band’s career.

If there is a flaw to be found on the album it is how it fails to surpass their other masterpieces Majesty and Decay and Close to a World Below. It is another strong entry in the band;s discography, but doesn’t really stand out in any particular way either. This is another solid entry into the band;s discography and a good example of death metal performed properly. Fans of the band will be well served to check this out as it is one of the band's stronger releases.

Rating 7.5/10

Review by Allan on December 7, 2002.

Nowadays when I listen to death metal I’m fairly skeptical. There are so many bands creeping out from every single nation that it’s overwhelming; finding a good band is like finding a good album in a mainstream record store. Look long enough and you’ll eventually stagger across something absolutely worthy of your attention, and for 2002 Immolation’s “Unholy Cult” is amongst the very best.

I honestly don’t know exactly what it is about Immolation and their new album, “Unholy Cult”, that make it so appealing. Initially “Unholy Cult” might come off as a typical, run of the mill death metal album that doesn’t bring anything new to the table. To an extent, that might be true, but if you listen a lot more closely to “Unholy Cult”, you realize that there is quite a bit more than can be picked up from Immolation than the typical tried and true way.

Quite a bit of the riffing is completely off the death metal base, often touching in the area of rock. The guitars don’t sound like what you’d typically hear from a death metal band, yet everything they do just screams pure, blistering death metal. The riffs, as well as everything else found on “Unholy Cult”, are downright sinister. Despite the fact that pretty much all of “Unholy Cult” feels absolutely threatening, it somehow holds the quality of being catchy. Not in a bad way, of course, but just the fact that everything you hear on “Unholy Cult” will be sucked up by your brain like it’s a sponge. It’s certainly not limited to the guitars – Ross Dolan’s vocals are amongst the best in the genre, and Alex Hernandez’ drumming is very apocalyptic.

Immolation has this uniqueness about them, but at the same time what you hear on “Unholy Cult” has a feel of familiarity. Make no mistake about it, Immolation is pure death metal, but they manage sound unlike other acts.

Bottom Line: “Unholy Cult” is an album that doesn’t lose Immolation a shred of credibility when it comes to their position in the modern death metal movement, yet at the same time Immolation has put together an album that is well above what their contemporaries are doing.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 9
Production: 9
Originality: 9
Overall: 9

Rating: 9 out of 10

Review by Felix on April 19, 2021.

In the past, when you asked your grandfather for old stories, you usually heard something about the war. That wasn't nice, but it was somehow exciting. You couldn't even imagine that there had once been a war… If I ever have grandchildren and they ask me about the past, what should I say? “Impaled Nazarene used to make good records.” Oh, my grandchildren will think, not nice, not very exciting either. And they won't be able to imagine it.

Impaled Nazarene have always wished for nuclear war in previous interviews. Maybe they should have done a test run in their rehearsal room. We would have been spared Eight Headed Serpent if they had simply disappeared into their own nuclear cloud. Not to mention all the other albums since 1994, which never again even remotely reached the level of Ugra-Karma. Since this milestone split skulls almost perfectly, there is of course a lot of room for deterioration and the fact that full-length number 13 can't compete with it doesn't mean it has to be a total flop. But the disc is not good either.

Roughly, the record can be broken down into three parts. Starting from the back, part 1 consists of the last track, a dreary number that exceeds the 5-minute mark as an end in itself to stretch the material to over half an hour. Before that is part 2, which consists of nothing but wild bludgeoning. Finally, part 3 consists only of the infantile intro. But probably there is a high quality artistic note behind "oral sex demons" screams, which unfortunately remains hidden from a dumbass like me.

I beg your pardon? Yes, you're right, I went over part 2 of the record a bit very quickly. Wild bludgeoning is actually not a bad thing. The problem is that Impaled Nazarene are not able to enrich it with grandiose riffs or lines. They also don't know what they want to play. 'The Nonconformists' sounds like speed metal with a bad singer and 'Human Cesspool' is driven by a punky bass line, while other tracks offer a crude, often uninspired mix of black, thrash and hardcore. 'Shock And Awe' has something similar to a good guitar melody, but this line evaporates within two seconds after the song ends. But back to the big picture. The uniformity, the simplicity and the unimaginativeness of the compositions from number one to number thirteen break the album's neck. I admit that 'Metastasizing And Changing Threat' is well done, because besides comprehensible guitar runs, there are also beginnings of an atmosphere, without the hardness level being reduced for that.

But it's all too little, too late. With their concentrated clumsiness and pseudo-provocative behaviour, Impaled Nazarene will have a hard time inspiring many people for their music. Or will they succeed after all? Maybe Eight Headed Serpent is simply a polarising masterpiece and I'm just at the wrong end of the scale. In any case, I don't like much here, not even the lumpy production, which underlines the monotony of the material. At least one can respect that the Finns do not move (again) towards commercialism with this release. But that would also have been a betrayal of the idea of nuclear war.

Rating: 5.5 out of 10

Review by Michael on April 15, 2021.

Impaled Nazarene are back! After seven years they managed to record once again a new studio album called Eight Headed Serpent. That's what I call a pretty long creative break - let's see if the long wait was worth it, because I must honestly say that the last albums couldn't convince me 100% due to their relative monotony.

First of all, let's take a look at the external features, i.e. the cover. Here you can find the typical trademarks of the band, gas masks and the nuclear symbol. In the gas masks there are dried up goat heads, very stylish. Also the lettering of the band has not changed, so far you can conclude that nothing has changed here. Good! By the way, the cover was designed by Ritual, who was also responsible for other artwork of the band (e.g. Pro Patria Finlandia).

Musically, we start with 'Goat Of Mendes' with Monika Lewinsky memories from the White House or something like that and then the party starts. High-speed thumping, as we are used to from the last albums, there is no moment to pause, only in the last third of the song the track becomes a bit catchier. The title track sounds a little less bulky, although it is jammed through with full speed, but the melodies are more recognizable and I personally find the bassline pretty cool. 'Shock And Awe' reminds me of the bass of old Sodom in the style of "Never Healing Wound". 'The Nonconformists' and 'Octagon Order' are the first real surprise on the album, the songs sound like old albums á la Latex Cult. Very punky and very casual the whole thing! 'Debauchery And Decay' brings back memories of Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz times through Mika's screams at the beginning, then a riff is brought out that could have been on 'Absence Of War Does Not Mean Peace'. Oh and there is a Celtic Frost-Ugh too!!! In the further course songs from the different creative periods of the band mix. Another song that stands out is 'Triumphant Return Of The Antichrist', here memories of 'Soul Rape' are awakened when Mika roars the chorus. Another trip far into the past is 'Unholy Necromancy', where even deeper demonic grunting is presented.

As a conclusion the band drifts into epic doom realms and presents us with 'Foucault Pendulum' one of the slowest songs the band has ever written besides 'Quasb / The Burning'. Regarding the production, the band presents (as on their previous works) an extremely powerful and well-produced album. Thumbs up for this.

It remains to be said that Impaled Nazarene, in my opinion, have found their way back to their old strength by skillfully combining old stylistic elements with newer song structures. I think that with Eight Headed Serpent they can also convince many fans who can not do so much with the newer albums. Horns up for the new album, let's hope we can see Impaled Nazarene on tour soon!!! 

Rating: 9.5 dried goat heads of 10

Review by Felix on April 19, 2021.

In the past, when you asked your grandfather for old stories, you usually heard something about the war. That wasn't nice, but it was somehow exciting. You couldn't even imagine that there had once been a war… If I ever have grandchildren and they ask me about the past, what should I say? “Impaled Nazarene used to make good records.” Oh, my grandchildren will think, not nice, not very exciting either. And they won't be able to imagine it.

Impaled Nazarene have always wished for nuclear war in previous interviews. Maybe they should have done a test run in their rehearsal room. We would have been spared Eight Headed Serpent if they had simply disappeared into their own nuclear cloud. Not to mention all the other albums since 1994, which never again even remotely reached the level of Ugra-Karma. Since this milestone split skulls almost perfectly, there is of course a lot of room for deterioration and the fact that full-length number 13 can't compete with it doesn't mean it has to be a total flop. But the disc is not good either.

Roughly, the record can be broken down into three parts. Starting from the back, part 1 consists of the last track, a dreary number that exceeds the 5-minute mark as an end in itself to stretch the material to over half an hour. Before that is part 2, which consists of nothing but wild bludgeoning. Finally, part 3 consists only of the infantile intro. But probably there is a high quality artistic note behind "oral sex demons" screams, which unfortunately remains hidden from a dumbass like me.

I beg your pardon? Yes, you're right, I went over part 2 of the record a bit very quickly. Wild bludgeoning is actually not a bad thing. The problem is that Impaled Nazarene are not able to enrich it with grandiose riffs or lines. They also don't know what they want to play. 'The Nonconformists' sounds like speed metal with a bad singer and 'Human Cesspool' is driven by a punky bass line, while other tracks offer a crude, often uninspired mix of black, thrash and hardcore. 'Shock And Awe' has something similar to a good guitar melody, but this line evaporates within two seconds after the song ends. But back to the big picture. The uniformity, the simplicity and the unimaginativeness of the compositions from number one to number thirteen break the album's neck. I admit that 'Metastasizing And Changing Threat' is well done, because besides comprehensible guitar runs, there are also beginnings of an atmosphere, without the hardness level being reduced for that.

But it's all too little, too late. With their concentrated clumsiness and pseudo-provocative behaviour, Impaled Nazarene will have a hard time inspiring many people for their music. Or will they succeed after all? Maybe Eight Headed Serpent is simply a polarising masterpiece and I'm just at the wrong end of the scale. In any case, I don't like much here, not even the lumpy production, which underlines the monotony of the material. At least one can respect that the Finns do not move (again) towards commercialism with this release. But that would also have been a betrayal of the idea of nuclear war.

Rating: 5.5 out of 10

Review by Michael on April 15, 2021.

Impaled Nazarene are back! After seven years they managed to record once again a new studio album called Eight Headed Serpent. That's what I call a pretty long creative break - let's see if the long wait was worth it, because I must honestly say that the last albums couldn't convince me 100% due to their relative monotony.

First of all, let's take a look at the external features, i.e. the cover. Here you can find the typical trademarks of the band, gas masks and the nuclear symbol. In the gas masks there are dried up goat heads, very stylish. Also the lettering of the band has not changed, so far you can conclude that nothing has changed here. Good! By the way, the cover was designed by Ritual, who was also responsible for other artwork of the band (e.g. Pro Patria Finlandia).

Musically, we start with 'Goat Of Mendes' with Monika Lewinsky memories from the White House or something like that and then the party starts. High-speed thumping, as we are used to from the last albums, there is no moment to pause, only in the last third of the song the track becomes a bit catchier. The title track sounds a little less bulky, although it is jammed through with full speed, but the melodies are more recognizable and I personally find the bassline pretty cool. 'Shock And Awe' reminds me of the bass of old Sodom in the style of "Never Healing Wound". 'The Nonconformists' and 'Octagon Order' are the first real surprise on the album, the songs sound like old albums á la Latex Cult. Very punky and very casual the whole thing! 'Debauchery And Decay' brings back memories of Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz times through Mika's screams at the beginning, then a riff is brought out that could have been on 'Absence Of War Does Not Mean Peace'. Oh and there is a Celtic Frost-Ugh too!!! In the further course songs from the different creative periods of the band mix. Another song that stands out is 'Triumphant Return Of The Antichrist', here memories of 'Soul Rape' are awakened when Mika roars the chorus. Another trip far into the past is 'Unholy Necromancy', where even deeper demonic grunting is presented.

As a conclusion the band drifts into epic doom realms and presents us with 'Foucault Pendulum' one of the slowest songs the band has ever written besides 'Quasb / The Burning'. Regarding the production, the band presents (as on their previous works) an extremely powerful and well-produced album. Thumbs up for this.

It remains to be said that Impaled Nazarene, in my opinion, have found their way back to their old strength by skillfully combining old stylistic elements with newer song structures. I think that with Eight Headed Serpent they can also convince many fans who can not do so much with the newer albums. Horns up for the new album, let's hope we can see Impaled Nazarene on tour soon!!! 

Rating: 9.5 dried goat heads of 10