Fleshspoil : "The Beginning of the End"

 

This band features the former drummer of Arsis, which sparked my interest. Normally blackened death metal is not my thing as it tends to not bring the atmosphere I enjoy from black metal but this is not the case.  It has plenty of it in a dissonant mix that makes the discordance soothing to my ears. It's not just bludgeoning hammering, but intricate songwriting with a technical aspect that is also held in check,  The mix reminds me more of an album that might have come out 20 years ago. Which is fine as lots of quality metal came out then. There is a riff that reminds me of post-Vincent Morbid Angel, that crops up, this also works for me. Aside from the ambiance of this album 

I do not hear a great deal of black metal in the overall sound it just feels like a darker death metal album. A surprising melody in the guitar leads into " Skies Turn to Graves". It does accelerate into a more aggressive brand of death metal. There is a sung vocal that breaks things up a bit. This album is keeping me surprised. The eponymous song is more technical in its jarring syncopation. Its dynamics dips down into a more melodic section. They come back from this with a more grooving riff. The vocals are normally in a lower death metal growl. The crunch back into more of a Tampa death metal mode for "Walking Dead". There is an almost metal core-like groove that this song locks into that is head-bang-worthy for sure. 

"A Frail Demise" has a more sludge creep to it,. The song finds the vocals going into a more coarse throat roar than a growl. It reminds me of early Mastodon. Instead of prog their expansive sonic journey, hold more grit and anger. The drumming blasts a little, which could be heard as a black metal influence, but one blast beat does mean it's a black metal band. There is also a Rob Halford-like shriek that sits back in the mix, but this is far from a power metal album.  The riffs that collide here are all fairly hooky. They gradually increase their aggression on this one. The last song sits on the more melodic side of sludge. The guitars take a more post-rock approach to the melodies. Sung vocals also come into this song they are more forward in the mix and less leather-clad. I'll give this album a 9.5 and see how it grows on me, it's more of a death metal album though will appeal to fans of bands like Inter Arma, in fact, I think they do what Inter Arma does better than Inter Arma does it.The album drops March 28th, make sure to check it out.  

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