IMMENSE INTENSE SUSPENSE

The first album from this band, although I would regard Preach Eternal Gospel as their debut album. Phlebotomized is doing very heavy doom metal bordering to death metal. Well, on this album at least. Progressive ? The last couple of songs are pretty progressive if I am kind. The rest of the album is as heavy as ten thousand tonnes of steel. The tempo is slooooow, but not funeral doom slow. Their use of violin and their general lack of tempo reminds me about the debut album by My Dying Bride. This album is down that alley. Add some Orphaned Land (Sahara) and we are pretty close.

Quality wise, the last two songs are good. The rest is pretty forgetable. I was a fan of this band ten-fifteen years ago. But times has moved on and left this album as a curiosity. But if heavy doom metal with death metal vocals is anyone's cup of tea here, this album is recommended. But it is not for me, I am afraid.

2 stars

"Immense Intense Suspense" is the debut full-length studio album by Dutch death/doom metal act Phlebotomized. The album was released through Cyber Music in September 1994. It follows the release of the 1993 "Preach Eternal Gospels" EP and there has been one significant lineup change since the release of the EP as lead vocalist Barry Schuyer has been replaced by Dennis Geestman. Phlebotomized are therefore still a septet including a keyboard player and a violinist in addition to two guitarists, a bassist, a drummer, and a lead vocalist.

Stylistically they are in the more death metal oriented and brutal end of the death/doom metal scale. They often play faster parts too, and this is by no means your regular My Dying Bride/Paradise Lost clone, although the slow paced sections featuring violin point in the direction of the former. Phlebotomized are a pretty adventurous and creative act and it wouldn´t be wrong to call their music progressive in nature. The songs feature many shifts in pace and a lot of different sections. The atmosphere is gloomy and mournful all the way though. This is not a happy release. It´s dark, grim, and brutal, and it´s only the keyboards and the violin layered sections, which point in another direction and which provide the band´s music with an extra epic dimension. That Phlebotomized happen to write and play some really effectul, brutal, and heavy old school death metal too is just one part of their sound which works well.

The change on the lead vocalist spot doesn´t affect Phlebotomized´s sound much, as Geestman is just as convincing, powerful, and brutal a growling vocalist as Schuyer was. He even adds the occasional (and rare) clean vocal moment which is great for the variation of the album. The clean vocals are delivered in either a showgaze type vocal style or a goth rock ditto. No high pitched epic singing here, but more a subtle monotone/dreamy clean vocal performance, although closing track "Gone" hints at a slightly more regular melodic rock voice performance.

"Immense Intense Suspense" features a well sounding production job, which suits the material well. The keyboards are sometimes placed a little high in the mix and the clean vocals are placed pretty low, but other than that it´s a powerful, raw, and detailed sound production. Upon conclusion it´s one of the more unique sounding death/doom metal albums from the early- to mid-90s. Calling it progressive death/doom metal isn´t always true because of the brutal old school death metal sections and higher pace, but evaluated overall that´s probably still the best description of the content of "Immense Intense Suspense". A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).