Irreversible Mechanism - Immersion
Irreversible Mechanism are a four piece progressive death metal band from Minsk, who on their new album Immersion, have created a musically demanding, and finely nuanced foray, into the potentialities of the genre. They create a powerful melodic wall of sound, that repays many listens, to reach the full creative depth offered by this musically ambitious album.
Opening track Existence 1: Contemplation creates a very atmospheric introductory template for the album. Delicate guitar figures mix with a church like organ, before a malevolent synthesiser flows into the sound, and heralds a lovely ballad like section. Abrasive guitars and growled vocals then throw the song into death metal territory. It is awe inspiring, and the accompanying fluid guitar solos, just add to the evocative winter like musical landscape created.
Footprints in the Sand has some stunning blast beats, and some contrasting musical sections, including a great spoken word coda over harmonious ringing guitars.Beyond, with its graceful elegiac guitar introduction, segues into some complex fast paced rhythmic patterns, inter-twined with some stunning guitar melodies, and the most shadowy of growled vocals. The wonderfully surprising, and beautifully sung clean harmony vocal later in the song, demonstrates the musically expansive territory the band are reaching for.
The closing track, Awakening, is striking for its guitar led autumnal opening introduction. The vocal interplay, and laser precision twin guitar motifs are just superb. The music on this album, in fact, effortlessly leads your imagination to evoke pictures, reflecting the atmosphere created by the music, from mysterious misty forests to frozen wastelands.
In listening to this album, there is also a resonance of late period John Coltrane, and his pushing at the boundaries of the musical palette jazz offered. A great album and highly recommended.