Being a beginner in death metal and finding most of the contemporary scene dull I just don't get it when people sometimes go nuts over new DM albums. To remedy my lack of knowledge I asked a few friendly faces to recommend me some albums they consider classics of the genre. In this series I'll write down my thoughts after hearing these and couple them with added comments from our resident Goat overlord who is a seasoned death metal fan.
Immolation - Close to a World Below
Close to a World Below is a case of love at first sight. There's something raw and unbelievably heavy about it that I find to be missing in most of the death metal I've heard. The rawness doesn't come from production tricks like you might hear in black metal but rather a sense of controlled chaos that erupts at select points in the songs. Aiding this, the guitar tone and playing at times sound like they are recorded industrial machinery rhythmically humming along. That's not to say that the guitars drone, they just sound unlike any other band I've heard. Tying this together are drums that alternate between pounding your face and playing well thought out rhythms as the guitar riffs dance around like flames. It all comes together as a very convincing rendition of hell as a sound.
Not one second is wasted on this tight 42 minute record. The material here is memorable and all the songs have unique ideas to them. A big part of why I think this super dense and raw material works is that the whole album has a very thought out rhythmical approach. Riffs will often feel circular in a way that makes parts of the songs distinct. Small touches break up the songs well, like the chants in the latter part of "Furthest From the Truth", the driving rhythm in "Lost Passion" that reminds me of Gojira (of all bands) and the build to one of the best climaxes I've heard in a metal song on "Put My Hand in the Fire".
I don't always pay attention to the lyrics in metal since it's often the same old hate religion/monsters/gore etc. But this album deserves a special mention as I feel that these lyrics are not only memorable but ooze a creatively sarcastic disdain for religion. The focus here seems to be on believers themselves rather than ridiculing what they believe in and the vocals of Ross Dolan drip venom. Lines like "The magnitude of his madness is so clear/ In the eyes of the herd he keeps" and "We waited and waited/ Our crosses born/ And still you did not come" lends the material a tragic focus that makes it all hit differently from the usual religions-baaaad-man lyrics.
Is this your first exposure to the album/band?
Album, yes. I'd heard Acts Of God once or twice before.
Does this album feel like a classic to you?
Absolutely. Since giving this album a go I've had a hard time listening to anything else, new or old. This is the sound of a band that knows what they're doing, having momentum and reaching that little extra for something special. A lightning in a bottle kind of situation. It has already eclipsed my other death metal related favorites and has potential to become one of my personal 10/10 albums. Lucky shot for the first volume in this series.
Scuttlegoat adds his 2 cents:
I always almost feel a little shameful about it, but Immolation never quite did it for me the way they seem to do it for other people. Not like I don't get it, quite the opposite: Immolation were, in many ways, very much ahead of the pack. Much earlier than other bands, they had figured out the use of dissonance in death metal. Furthermore, they had figured out how to create texture in their riffs without ever utilitzing time stretching or modulation effects - something that many bands to this day either struggle with or have not ever figured out. It is this album which I would call their crowning achievement. Tracks like "Father, You're Not A Father" are mindblowing pieces of death metal and the album is full of them.
My reservations about Immolation come really only in the context of their whole discography. After Close to a World Below, it seemed like Immolation had basically said all they needed to say and while most of their albums after Close are good, none have that insane drive, this feeling of an all-encompassing hellscape, that Close To A World Below had. Maybe I discovered Immolation too late - I was already deep into my twenties before I had even heard of them - but while I can recognize the immense talent, they never were a Top 5 act for me. However, they absolutely are essential death metal and not the worst place to start for a skeptic. Shame that there basically is no other band that sounds like them, though - this project could end up disappointing for a certain crocodile.
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