Imagery

Most metalheads would know of Neuraxis by now, with the release of The Thin Line Between, but little consideration is abound for when they began. Their 1997 debut Imagery is definitely a far cry from where they are today, that’s for sure! It goes to show where recognition and a big label can take you.

Oh, I’d better stop myself for a second. I don’t want to say something like “a bigger budget and better production automatically equals a better album”. Listening to Imagery, I can’t say it’s any better or worse than Neuraxis’s later output. The differences between both eras are very noticeable, though…this sounds like an album that was made with no strings attached; just a bunch of guys who wanted to make some out-and-out death metal, with no restrictions by record labels. It sounds like they had a blast creating it, and in turn, I have a blast listening to it, too.

The drum sound is, in a word, crappy. The snare sound is not the best, and the bass is a bit clicky. They’re also mixed a little loudly, so if they were turned down, only a notch or two, then it may have been a lot better. I suppose with a smaller budget, you have to make do with what you have. At least he can play them, which is always nice to hear (I can hear some fractional mistakes, but remember, these are the pre-Pro Tools days). The guitar, on the other hand, sounds good. There are some neat riffs in this album, like in “Reasons Of Being”. The mixing of the guitars sound great – not too soft, and not too loud. Unfortunately, the bass guitar can’t be heard very well, which I guess has been a plague on that instrument for a long time.

The vocals are the big difference between old and new Neuraxis. This album, and their follow-up A Passage Into Forlorn, utilise much more of a high, shrieking vocal style that would be eventually abandoned later. I can see why, as they’re quite extreme and would not suit such albums as their last two. They don’t necessarily detract from the enjoyment of Imagery, but they’re always there and make a significant impact on the music. You’ll either love them or hate them. Listen to the final track “The Drop” for some super-intense vocals!

The running time only just exceeds a half hour, so it’s quite short, but for the style Neuraxis began with, it’s long enough. This is, quite honestly, a good Neuraxis album that could rival their other releases in a heartbeat. It’s stylistically very different, but it’s a nice way to hear how this band began.