The fantastic painting struck my optic nerves at first. Soon I noticed something that caused disarray; the logo, which doesn't fit a bit with the peculiar painting. Took a few seconds to decipher it. One more logo with a pentagram on it... Just like the cover art, Immortal Rites' debut full length album itself is a bit of a chameleon.

'Eugenic' the introduction is a fine futuristic electronic work, which set my ears for some electro-metal or something. 'Fatal Exploited' explodes like a ton of dynamite. Fast death metal with a hint of melody tries to rip my head off and nearly succeeds on it, too. Energetic and sticky piece of brutality is irresistible, a real headbanging stuff! 'Dressed in Amazing Red' is a tad more melodic (in Swedish way) yet still with a nasty bite. 'Digital God' drags in even more melodiousness, getting close to 'Colony' (1999) era In Flames yet retaining something own from the band. 'United Scars Anthem' begins with oh-so-modern "goth"-melody. The majority of the energy and especially the brutality is suddenly lost, but at least the song flows nicely. Sounding something like a German version of nowadays' Soilwork, Alex Krull of Atrocity provides clean vocals for even more "goth"-effect, yeuch! 'Mirror Reflections' is a pure In Flames' rip-off. It sounds real close to Swedes' 'The Jester Race' and 'Jester Script Transfigured' with ex-Theatre Of Tragedy girl Liv Kristine providing some female vocals. 'Hallucinations Overture' is a nastier one again with blast beat parts, and not a second too early. 'The Utter Dark's opening guitar licks are way too nice for a song with a name like that and there's no utter darkness to be heard during these 280 seconds, but lead guitar reminding me of Septic Flesh back in the mid 1990s does work, even though it's quite a hard to take. 'Pathetic Patterns' is a slower piece while 'The Cadaverized' closes the circle with brutal Swedish-esque assault.

Lead guitar sounds weird. Sometimes like Septic Flesh's as mentioned before. The sound is varied yet usually hmmm... Weird! Light and electronic or something like that, it's hard to explain. Heaviness is provided by rhythm guitar, which sounds well nasty. Drums are pounding, but sound triggered and therefore a bit machinery. Bass is devastatingly heavy and causies some minor quakes. This has clearly some attempt to find an original sound and partly it's achieved, but partly it doesn't work very well, so honing is needed. The Alex Krull production is still very well balanced.

Lyrics are varying too. Social commenting (on most of the songs, quite good indeed, with a hint of Napalm Death's sensibility), thoughts of a killer ('Dressed...', really quite lame) and of course usual babbling of death itself are the themes. Written straight, they do not need too much brains power, but most of them work. Maybe not in the eyes of a person with English as a mother tongue, though. Vocals are ugly, a lot of "demonic" shrieking/growling, but thankfully performed with enough variety. Clean male and female vocals are used as spices, but they really add nothing.

Immortal Rites' debut is a good one, but still it has many childhood defects. Even this sounds too familiar at times, this clearly comes from the guys' hearts. Beats newer Soilwork/In Flames albums in my ears, and that's a good for any debut. Fuck nowadays' "Eurogoth" influences (not much here) and utilize the intro's futuristic soundscape in actual songs. Immortal Rites are ones to watch.

Rating: 6+ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
03/13/2004 19:14