Band: Immanis
CD Title: The Carnage Footprint
Year: 2008
Website: immanis.eu
MySpace: myspace.com/immanismusic
Label: Massive Core Records
Featured on: Loucifer Speaks exclusive
Rating: 9.2 / 10
More Links: Please start a thread in the Loucifer Speaks forum, Review of "War Machine".
You may remember that I reviewed Immanis' previous album not too long ago and I thought it was rather good... so, I jumped at the chance to review the new album from the band.
As with the last album, I was slightly deterred by the amount of tracks (there are only 6 here), but once I was able to cast my mind back to the last album I remembered that, while Immanis may not pack their albums full of songs, they do give you your money's worth. The songs are of such a high quality that it really doesn't matter. The phrase "Quality over quantity" really applies here.
The album opens with "I Dare You" which has a Gothic element that I wasn't really expecting - it works bloody well though! The combination of vocals and various musiciany wizardry could make this track seem a little daunting at first, but once the feeling of awe has started to subside you'll soon realise that all of these parts slot together flawlessly. Immanis have managed to mix together quite a few Metal sub-genres for this song (and the album in general), making them impossible to pigeon-hole. There's the Progressive Metal, Goth, Black Metal and straight-up heavy-as-fuck Metal.
There's something about "Piece of Me" that keeps me coming back for more. It's angry, while still retaining the technical brilliance that I have come to expect from the band. It makes me want to shout, scream and bang my head... Now that's got to be good thing, right?
"Blood Life" has a fantastically full sound. The keyboards bring back that Gothic / Black Metal element and I was surprised at how much I liked them when combined with the full on brutality of the other instrumentation. The two styles complement each other really well and the keyboards provide a good contrast. And, they've given finally given me the opportunity to use one of my favourite words in a review! Juxtaposition! Immanis have juxtaposed delicate keyboards with pounding violence... and it works deliciously well... and I'm a geek for having a list of favourite words....
"Carnage Footprint" provides us with an instrumental break from all of the insanity, before the band launch into "Waste Not Want Not". "Waste Not Want Not" is a strangely memorable track and I think this is helped with the use of clean vocals in places.
The album's closer, "Fight Back", is as full to the brim with aggression as it sounds. This is music that makes me want to go a few rounds with the punchbag. Not that I'm any good at that sort of thing, but at least it will look cool with "Fight Back" as the soundtrack!
I've had the pleasure of reviewing quite a few shockingly good albums this year - and "The Carnage Footprint" is definitely one of them. Immanis are on tour very soon and I suggest that you go and check them out!
01 I Dare You
02 Piece of Me
03 Blood Life
04 Carnage Footprint
05 Waste Not Want Not
06 Fight Back
