ALBUM REVIEW: Immersion – Primitive Man

In eight years PRIMITVE MAN have earned themselves a reputation as one of sludge’s harshest and most prolific exponents. They sit alongside LORD MANTIS, COFFINWORM, and DRAGGED INTO SUNLIGHT in metal’s most putrid corner, where dissonance, grinding repetition and sharp changes in tempo are the order of the day. More than most, PRIMITIVE MAN are willing to explore these ideas to the limits of listenability. Debut Scorn and second full-length Caustic are their most developed expressions of this artless creed, but a trove of singles and splits have elaborated on it. Their third studio album Immersion arrives following a period of relative inactivity for the Colorado trio: what blunt instruments of cruelty have PRIMITIVE MAN been crafting?

There is no bluesy-swing or rock ‘n’ roll swagger in what PRIMITIVE MAN do. Theirs is a bleak vision, which draws upon the techniques of death and doom metal to create loathsome long-form tracks, which often turn to violence and anger in a red flash. These expectations are soon confirmed in opening track The Lifer, which bludgeons its listener with low and slow riffs before blending into the sparse Entity without further ado. In spite of what the album’s title promises, no attempt is made to ease the listener into Immersion’s ruthless atmosphere.

Perhaps this is intentional, but some creative use of dynamics would have heightened the experience. Menacing is a great example of this kind of dynamic playing; contorting itself with blastbeats, agonising feedback and grooves. The album’s only reprieve is a two-minute white noise interlude, and most tracks can only be distinguished by the onset of feedback between them. This is raw and punishing music, granted – but little else besides.

These shortcomings are never apparent in a live setting, which (we can all agree) is this band’s home, but on a record it strikes us as lacking somewhat. Similarly, the album’s conclusion doesn’t feel as climactic or conclusive as it probably should. Consumption promises speed, and appears to be working itself into a frenzied closing movement, but all that momentum and intensity just falls of a cliff. None of these foibles detract from Immersion’s core, visceral appeal: sustained and intense dirge, evoking equal parts disgust and anger. What this band lacks in sophistication they have in sheer vitriol. Sceptics might say that PRIMTIVE MAN is a one-trick-pony, but no one could say that PRIMTIVE MAN doesn’t perform that trick better than most.

Expecting more of this band nearly ten-years into their career might have been a mistake, because while Immersion is certainly uncompromising it’s hardly cerebral. Immersion was never going to be polished, but even by PRIMITIVE MAN’s own standards this is unrefined. However, when taken on its own terms, Immersion will bring any listener to confront the worst aspects of themselves; their fears, failures and their faults. There are bands that play slower, lower and longer than PRIMITIVE MAN, but very few can achieve such a sustained expression of utter torment. Attentive listening is excruciating, but ultimately cathartic. To be filed under ‘Psychological Torture.’

Rating: 7/10

Immersion is set for release on August 14th via Relapse Records.

Like PRIMITIVE MAN on Facebook.