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HM? What's that, you say? Surely, this mag's abbreviated moniker can't stand for "Hard Music," can it?….Honkey Music, maybe?…Hella Music?…Hippie Music? Well, by injecting the new Soul Embraced into our periodical's vein, a little of Heaven's glorious Metal has deigned to bang HM's pages once again. With Immune, the much cross-referenced trio that is Soul Embraced do well to get back to meatier, more substantial riffs after their relatively flaccid sophomore LP, This Is My Blood. Grabbing the listener from the get-go with a healthy "Chug-chug! Chug-chug! Chug!," Immune reminds one that there is indeed life after Living Sacrifice for SE's axe-wielding frontman Rocky Gray – albeit a different, more polyrhythmic life. As is tradition in hard-core and much modern metal, Gray seems to lead the rhythm as often as the melody-frequent crunch, intermittent noodling, spare vibrato, dual-attack-guitar, never fully deviating from straightforward, full-on heavy metal (re: "Existence In Despair"). Chad Moore's tuneful singing stands out on Immune, but it's his characteristic screaming-whisper that really boosts our ever-depleting cough-core white blood cells. Lance Garvin's drumming is customarily metronomic – if the metronome was in heat and recently consumed 17 cans of Red Bull; it's a perfect compliment to the driving rhythms palpitating from the other members. The album seems more three-dimensional and vivid than past efforts thanks in large part to a production switch to Barry Poynter. Having said that, Zao (former Poynter collaborators) and Living Sacrifice (former Rocky cohorts) connections have been and will be made, but the difference is apparent upon listening. At the same time, though, it is difficult for a dose of classic Metallica, a duly noted influence, not to come to mind at times (especially on "I Bury You" and "Abandoned"), but this is hardly a denunciation. [SOLID STATE] BRYAN KEEN

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