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Fleshcrawl
"Soulskinner" |
| By
Vinnie Apicella Hard not to be drawn in
by the deathly severity of the opening title track, surprisingly catchy
around the chorus in a very Nordic winter warriors sort of way. I can
see a lot of people anticipating this new release from Germany's
Fleshcrawl-"Teutonic terrors" was once reserved for a band like the
Scorpions and oh how times have changed-and so what might we refer to
these guys as? Although there's no such thing as "easy" within the
realms of Death Metal, one thing that's immediately known about
"Soulskinner" is that it's got an extra level of musicality within its
overall carnage. Doing so in an impressively creative way, Fleshcrawl
doesn't water down the otherwise asphyxiating layer of chill that
quickly fills your listening space, and continually true to life like
the name suggests. Tunes like the opening title track and the "Dying
Blood" follow up remain as intense as ever only with more associative
properties in place-think of it as how a Cannibal Corpse might compare
to Six Feet Under and you're onto something-but hold on damn tight cuz
it's a long way down. Typical of the European extremists, the
musicianship on "Soulskinner" is front caliber and compact, the
lyricism
as frightful and far reaching as ever-war torn and devastating with
their influence lying in the darkness of the past-"Carved In Flesh,"
"Breeding The Dead," "Deathvastation." The latter two tracks reveal a
twisting, convulsive form nearly identical to the path once traveled
when Entombed leaned more to the left; the last unleashes an
unforgiving
sound barrier-blowing torment that belies most of the gut-wrenching
previous work and sets upon an even more aggressive descent into
nocturnal brutality. They opted to close with an out of synch cover of
Priest's "Metal Gods" when they'd be better served to storm off at the
end of "Rotten," but otherwise 90% of "Soulskinner" or 100% of
Fleshcrawl makes for an impressive year-end release.
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