Search - Immolation :: Close to a World Below

Unique, Brutal, Unholy

Andrew J. Sydlik | Pittsburgh, PA United States | 07/05/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Immolation creates a paradox with their music. On the one hand, the music is superficially your typical brutal, oldschoolish, New York death metal, with typical anti-Christian lyrics. But wait. The attentive listener will find that upon examining this work further, layers of depth reveal themselves like scales falling from the sinner's eyes. A similar phenomenon happens w/fellow NY death metallers Suffocation. But these guys don't exactly sound like Suffocation, or any other band actually. Under the brutality and technicality lurks hellish melody and *gasp* emotion. The ignorant who say that the lyrics are cliche and simply composed for "shock" value aren't paying attention. Unlike the mindless anti-Christian aggression of bands like Deicide, Immolation's lyrics are highly personal, metaphorical, and emotional. (In interviews, Immolation refers to themselves as "unholy" rather than "evil.") Rather than expressing their hatred for all things holy by talking about burning down the Vatican or some such nonsense, these compositions explore psyches damaged by spiritual poisoning. The music manages to reflect these ideas well. The thunderous drumming, the shredding guitars, the grinding bass, and the grunt-barks (surprisingly understandable at times, even w/o a lyric sheet), all convey the anger and outrage at being deceived. And yet, without female or clean vocals, classical instruments, acoustic passages, or any letup in the brutality whatsoever, melody manages to thrive through odd time signatures and tempo changes, and strange instrument juxtapositioning that creates dissonance and harmony at the same time. It's hard to explain exactly what the music does, and I don't think words can adequately explain it, anyway. Again, it simply amazes me how they can seem both furious and intimidating as well as vulnerable and anguished at the same time, such as in "Father, You're Not a Father" ("Our father who aren't in heaven/Inside of me, my soul is lost/My manhood, so miniscule, was stolen/The Rosary has gripped tight around my neck") and "Lost Passion" ("My devotion to you was complete/I've carried the weight of your cross/The burden of life presses me/These nails are in too deep/My passion suffocates me/Jesus you suffocate me"). One last note to those who think these lyrics are merely penned for offensiveness: read some interviews with these guys. You'll see that these lyrics are from the heart, since they were once Christian and felt that it was damaging to them. And, having once been Christian myself and feeling pretty much the same way about the damaging thing, I can say that this band effectivly conveys, musically and lyrically, the kind of pain caused by Christianity."

Present-day Death Metal at it's most creative moment

marduk513 | Kentucky United States | 02/23/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As a music fan that varies his listening from time to time, I often search for new types of music. I just happened upon this selection and found it to be anything that you could want in the way of a brutally loud album. As I put this CD in to listen, I heard those soon-to-be-famous opening words that said "didn't you say that Jesus was coming?", and thought to myself: "how much better could this get?" But I was soon silenced by the brutal attack of the drums on Higher Coward, where it seems to sound more like machine-gun fire, rather than drumming. The rest of the album is so awesome, it's scary. The guitars sound perfect to be complimenting the vocals and the drum and bass fit together like a puzzle, completing one of the heaviest and all-out brutal albums of all time. I gave this album five stars because the production couldn't be better (it has a heavy bass sound without sacrificing high-end eq), the vocals are understandable (and stand out from the instruments), the guitar-work is heavy (a distorted high-gain sound), and the rhythm section is quite astonishing (great use of the bass by Ross Dolan (their singer also) and Alex Hernandez has got to be the only one of his kind when it comes to who can drum the loudest/fastest). In other words, i give this album a high rating, not because I liked it, but because it is surprising to see such creativity bled into music. You can actually tell that these people tried to make a noticable album, not just another "here's what I can do". Get this album if you're interested in this type of music."

Love this...OH I'M A CHRISTIAN.

marduk513 | 07/12/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I luv these guys. They're so cool. I know alot of Christians that are like the ones these guys despise so much, but not all of em are like that. Not all of us are hypocrits but all of us suffer for what a few jerks did. If you like technical deathmetal in the vein of Hate Eternal + Cryptopsy+Vader, then this is for u."