CoC : Immortal Suffering - Images of Horror : Review

Immortal Suffering - _Images of Horror_
(Mortal Coil Records, 1997)
by: Henry Akeley (6 out of 10)

INSATANITY: Solid, Suffocation-styled death metal with emphasis on dark, twisting structures and twitch-of-the-death-nerve rhythms. These six tracks have definitely prompted to me to look upon the band's debut release (_Divine Decomposition_) with renewed respect. I think the new material is a bit let down by slightly watery production, but it's no big calamity -- the sound could be stronger, but it still comes across well. Anyway, the songs are damn heavy and boast challenging structures: in order to grasp the threads that bind together the countless stomping, charging, flailing sections, you have to really pay attention. The hooks are buried deep -- but bite down hard, oh subterranean swimmer, and you shall taste many a razor-sharp steel barb. And dig the surprise bursts of ripping black metal! Great stuff. IMMORTAL SUFFERING: These guys also play songs containing tons of different parts and frequent shifts in speed. They're heavy, and of course they occasionally sound quite "sick", but their songs often seem like essentially random collections of parts: clomp, blast, thud, clomp, ding... next song, blast, clomp, ding, thud, thud... and so on. Not that these guys suck; they're just not bringing much musical flair to the style -- yet. The last two songs definitely demonstrate some real rip-it-up potential, so hopefully they'll keep getting stronger. NOTE: All the graphics for this CD were put together on a Mac. Total trueness!

(article published 17/11/1997)