The statement "C is not close to the instruction set of a modern CPU" does not need to be validated by specifying examples of languages that are closer.
But no. That is what I meant when I said this is not a relative statement.
If the title said "C is not the lowest-level language" then your objection would be valid... but it doesn't and it's not saying that.
But before I go into some lengthy explanation: have you read the article, or are you responding to the title alone?
The statement "C is not close to the instruction set of a modern CPU" does not need to be validated by specifying examples of languages that are closer.