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Immolation: Close to a world below

10/09/10 || Habakuk

Why hasn’t this been reviewed yet? Granted, Immolation’s 2000 output made it into our best of 2000-2009 list . Okay, it didn’t exactly end up in a high spot, but hey, those were all blocked by Amon Amarth and Opeth, so no chance there. Guess what though – in my personal list of awesomeness (which doesn’t feature those two bands, admittedly), this Immolation album is a bit higher. I know, you’re intrigued as fuck right now. So, take a last look at the sun, grab your flashlight, start your audio guides and hop into the trolley, ‘cause we’re going underground, closer to a world below.

“The mine we’re now entering has been built in the year 2000 by experienced miners that had been working in death metal digging since the late eighties / early nineties, producing large amounts of awesomeness from the depths of the earth.
If you look into your CD shelf at home, you might recognize some of the stuff that originates from the same very people, believe it or not. Have you ever wondered how “Dawn of possession”, “Here in after” or “Failures for Gods” were made? It’s all thanks to these people. Now, as we go underground, please keep your eyes on the left. The walls feature blasphemic scrapings about failed hopes in God all the way alongside the rails, and we speculate that the ear-piercing scraping sounds of their making might even have served the miners as inspiration in working their six-stringed tools all the way down. To give you an idea, we are now passing the bit we call “Lost Passion”, which reads

Help me down
From my cross
I’m dying here
My faith it fades
I’ve suffered long
My passion

Hold tight after the next curve, the rails go further down, and there will be no lights. How did people dig under these circumstances, you might wonder – In absolute darkness, the only orientation the miners used was of aural nature, which explains the weird and dissonant screeching noise that you might not be able to decipher at first listen. It resembles electronic guitars, naturally occurs within these depths and, pardon my French, needs total fucken darkness to make sense for occasional listeners, even those who might already be familiar with other subterranean products. After a few hours in these depths however, you’ll be able to move seamlessly within the aural landscape, following subtle melodic lines down long, twisted corridors. Just rely on your ears.

Attention, passengers, we’re now reaching what we call “the drum”. The rails here are a bit rugged, which means you’ll feel frequent prominent blows to your body, and if you pay close attention, you’ll find they are actually rhythmic. This curiosity is due to the intricate railway construction used by the designing engineer, Alex Hernandez. The railway patterns are interesting as they are of the most unusual kind and feature what the engineers called “double bass” a lot, together with a wooden-sounding snare sound and splashing cymbals. These rhythms go well with a rumbling deep frequency in the background, but you’ll have to pay close attention to recognize it. What you will find, however, is that the everpresent electronic guitar screechings match perfectly with the rhythmic patterns, distorted as their structure might be. We can only marvel at the arrangement prowess on display by the men who devoted their life to this.

As we progress further downwards, you might by now be able to make out the first sequences that actually fit together for you, and you’ll be surprised that it will even get pretty catchy once you’ve accustomed to it. What you’ll find helpful are the growled chants that were used by the miners to communicate in this particular environment. They were used to predominate the aural backdrop, and you will find that they serve this purpose well, using a guttural yet comprehensible sound.

You might get the impression that the air feels warmer down here, despite our trolley rapidly accelerating down the bumpy paths. That is a completely natural reaction of people soon to be vaporized in boiling lava, so hold tight once more, as the rails lead straight into a volcanic pit. Thanks for taking this tour “close to a world below” and before you completely evaporate, note that if you pay close attention to the source of heat while you fall, you can actually make out people and a burning cross in it. Don’t be disappointed if you can’t, you’ll be able to buy souvenir “immolation” booklets with that very image from our friendly staff after… oh, well, whatever, nevermindsssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh“…

8,5

Information
Released: 2000
Label: Metal Blade
Website: www.everlastingfire.com
Band
Ross Dolan: bass, vocals
Robert Vigna: guitars
Tom Wilkinson: guitars
Alex Hernandez: drums

Tracklist
1. Higher coward
2. Father you’re not a father
3. Furthest from the truth
4. Fall from a high place
5. Unpardonable sin
6. Lost passion
7. Put my hand in the fire
8. Close to a world below

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