Published on Jan 10, 2001
When I was in college in the early ’90s, I developed a love for
grindcore death metal. The faster and more aggressive it was, the
better I thought it would be. I used to put on groups like Napalm
Death to chase the drunks out of the dorm – and it always seemed
that we went from alcoholic raucousness to dead silence in five
minutes when I played these CDs.
As I got older, I realized there was more to grindcore than just
playing fast and loud. There actually had to be something to the
music. Lord knows in the four years I’ve been running “The Daily
Vault,” I’ve heard my share of grindcore bands who just don’t cut
the mustard.
And then there’s Immolation, whose latest album (and fourth
overall)
Close To A World Below shows not only that this genre is
still alive, but that it can be as exciting and as musically
challenging as ever.
The band – bassist/vocalist Ross Dolan, guitarists Robert Vigna
and Thomas Wilkinson and drummer Alex Hernandez – deliver the goods
with a fury I’ve not heard in some time. While I would have
preferred to have heard Dolan’s bass a little further up in the
mix, the mastery these guys have over their instruments is nothing
short of astonishing. How Hernandez is able to throw fills in while
frantically pounding out the grindcore rhythms, I’ll never be able
to understand.
What sets Immolation apart from so many other cookie-cutter
death metal bands is that, to a point, you can understand what
Dolan is grunting about. (The inclusion of lyrics in the liner
notes is also helpful.) Tracks like “Higher Coward,” “Lost Passion”
and “Father, You’re Not A Father” all contain powerful verbal
payloads that not everyone will appreciate, but are delivered with
conviction. (Memo to Metal Blade: why not send a copy of this disc
to every one of those phony televangelists, and watch those
hairpieces catch on fire? Make the first package to Benny Hinn… I
wanna see
that jagoff melt like butter on a hotplate when he hears
it.)
If there’s any drawback to Immolation’s style, it’s that the
energy level on
Close To A World Below is almost impossible to maintain
throughout the disc – and indeed it sags a bit on “Put My Hands
Into The Fire” and the title track. They’re still good numbers, but
not quite on the same level as the killer material.
Close To A World Below is the kind of disc I wish I had back
in my college days, and is sure to be getting a lot of time in the
CD player of the Pierce Memorial Archives. Anyone who likes their
metal with the gentleness of a three-car pileup will love this disc
as well.