I had to wait four long years after the release of Here In After to hear new material from Immolation, which came in the form of Failures For Gods, an amazingly technical and intense slab of pure hatred. After hearing the greatness of the release I was worried that I may, once again, have to wait four years to hear more, but thankfully they took pity on us all and recorded and released their new album, Close To A World Below in just over a year’s time. Was it worth the wait? Hell yes! Like all previous Immolation releases, this album takes a few listens to fully appreciate and get into. The darkness, technical proficiency and all out hateful display of anti-religious and anti-Christian angst is far too powerful to take in on the first listen. There is so much going on with such a heavy and dark atmosphere that it is overwhelming at first, but slowly with each listen the album begins to grow and envelope the listener, pummeling them into submission, turning all who give the album a chance into willing and active followers who bang their heads rhythmically and uncontrollably in pure, unadulterated worship. While the riffing is catchier than any of their previous material, it does not take away from the technicality of their effort and the vocals are deeper and more hateful and the drumming hits harder and is more varied than before. Songs like "Higher Coward", "Unpardonable Sin", "Put My Hand In The Fire" and the title track are some of the best material Immolation have recorded in their twelve year history, and the album, as a whole, may be their greatest release to date. Unfortunately, I do have a complaint with the album. It has nothing to do with the music or the production, which is perfect for this band, it has to do with the chosen artwork. Andreas Marschall, who did the artwork for Here In After and Failures For Gods, once again was the artist for the album. On the previous covers he used magnificent imagery to show the conflicts between heaven and hell, and to tear down the idea that Christianity is entirely pure. On the cover for Close To A World Below he used a much more direct approach, with the cover being Jesus crucified on the cross and burning in hell, with naked women being groped by demons in the background. I loved the work he had done with this group previously, but this new cover looks more like something Glen Benton would choose. Apart from that I have no qualms at all with the new Immolation album. It is, by far, one of the best, if not the very best album of 2000, and I am already eagerly awaiting the release of their next opus, expected in the fall of 2001. Close your mouth and open your ears and let the darkness pull you down to a world below.

Review byTeufel