The New Flesh : "The Absurd"

I you can't wait for the new Bellicose Minds , well there's good news the new album by New Flesh is here to tide you over and they can't wait for it either so they are taking another step towards sounds like Bellicose Minds themselves. On the punk side of the post-punk equation, they get the dark element right. The throw in some thoughtful vocal hook, but the monotone shout of their lead singer's baritone further cements them into sounding like Bellicose Clones on this one.

This style of post-punk comes really close to sounding like horror -punk, the Misfits elements are strong. These guys aren't bad song writers, it just I have a creeping feeling I've heard this before. I don't remember their previous album leaning so far in this direction.Not until the third song"Bound By Flesh" that I feel they are searching for their own sound. Even here we have the archetypal death rock bass tone leading the way.The guitar follows behind and I think if the vocals had more though and nuance behind them then they could really have sunk their fangs into something here.

The more thundering punk of "No Way Out" carries a mid night train of weight behind it's drive and compensates with sheer energy alone. The similarly paced"Blood and Sweat " doesn't come across as being as inspired.They bounce back with "This Crushing Fate". The guitars wander off into some interesting places. The vocals continue to hold the songs back. The does variations of the same thing though out the album. The one trick pony he rides takes to "This Crushing Fate" better than some of the other songs on this album.  does. The title track captures the album's best mood and goes into the darkest place yet for the band. From the effects on the bass to the distant scarping of the guitars you wonder why they were not doing this all along. The singer's vocals benefit from the distant catacomb like production they sit back into.

The bands best effort almost proves to be too little too late.It's even more of disappointment after they say good bye by letting you know they could have made other choices the whole time. I'll give this album a 7, if you like the more punk side of post-punk some of the problems I had with this album my not phase you.