Rating: 8.9

Country: Sweden

Release Date: 2003

Record Label: Arctic Music Group

Track list:
1. Salvatorial Rape
2. Recession
3. Rectal Force Ecstacy
4. We Have A Bleeder
5. Killing Season
6. Supreme Bukkake
7. Elite/Perfected [MP3]
8. Percussive Control
9. Letum Non Omnia Finit
10. Azura

Total playing time: 28:21

Band Website: Immersed In Blood

Immersed In Blood - Killing Season

Joakim Unger - Drums
Stefan Lundberg - Vocals
Joel Andersson - Bass
Robert Tyborn - Guitar
Johan Ohlsson - Guitar

It's been a good long time since my head has been blown clean off my shoulders by a record such as this one. I'll be the first to admit that the Brutal Death Metal genre has stagnated and degenerated to literal self-parody. With so many doppelganger bands out there, it can be quite a task to keep tabs on the good ones. Immersed In Blood are one such band that could easily pass under one's radar, but are worth watching out for in the future. It's even rarer that a recording like this is produced by veterans who've been bashing about for the last ten years or so. More often than not, time takes a toll on one's ability to create music so utterly levelling as Immersed In Blood do.

Formed by members of Inverted, the sadly unnoticed Goteborg Death Metal band of the early nineties (un)known for recordings such as 'Revocation Of The Beast', Immersed In Blood have a definitive and immediately noticeable jarring sound that jumps out of the speaker at you. It's polished, but not polished to point of sterility and total absence of "feel". What truly brings this music alive are the relentless rhythms of Joakim Unger. He's fast enough to deliver a flurry of blasts and rolls at a moment's notice, but diverse and creative enough to maintain your full attention throughout the 30 minute experience. Comprised mostly of downbeats, blasts, and some fast, fluid double-bass work, the percussion really deserves special note here. The savage vocal performance by Stefan Lundberg is a breath of fresh air, too. While I expected to hear pig-grunts, and processed gurgling, instead I was treated to a rabid and very gruff shout not altogether unfamiliar and not unlike what you may have heard coming from Matti Karki on Dismember's 'Death Metal' album. The only difference being that Lundberg possesses an infinitely more commanding aural presence. Lundberg's vocals are without doubt, one of the key ingredients that make 'Killing Season' so damned enjoyable, and ultimately memorable.

The guitars and bass lay an unshakably solid low-mid range foundation for the other vital components in this grisly beast of a Death Metal record. The bass is audible and powerful, very well handled by Joel Andersson, while Robert Tyborn and Johan Ohlsson exchange riffs back and forth with reckless abandon and a complete disregard for the listeners' safety, eardrums, and general well-being. While the riffs are not your average garden variety chugga chug chug, their origin and tone is unmistakably Scandinavian, and anyone familiar enough with the axe-handling tendencies and capabilities of Swedes could tell.

If I had anything even remotely derogatory to say, it would be that the lyrics don't make a whole lot of sense at times. But I can't say that I've met many people who listen to this music for the lyrical content. One other thing that may not please everyone is the length of the songs. The vast majority of them clock in around the two minute mark. However, each two minutes of this record is a true composition of sheer malevolence. If these songs were any longer than they are, this album may have suffered as a result. The abruptness and urgency of this music is simply a means to an end. And that end is a violent musical experience that comes highly recommended to any fan of Death Metal of any kind.

June 24th, 2005