I first heard Fleshrot when they did a split with
Katalepsy and
Blunt Force Trauma, on a split album called
Triumph of Evilution, I was impressed and I awaited for them to reappear on my radar. Little did I know that in fact Fleshrot come from the same town that I reside in, well I say reside, I mean where I live when I am not at University, so for under half the year. This prompted me to support my local scene and purchase my copy of their first full length album,
Traumatic Reconfiguration.
This album is best described as a Brutal Death Metal release, which has heavy inspiration and presence of Old School Death Metal. I quite like this set up, Brutal Death Metal is a genre I like but it can get silly by trying to out Brutalise the opposition. By not neglecting their roots of Old School Death Metal, Fleshrot have created a digestible sound, which maintains that high levels of brutality we like, but does not overdose on it, and they do this by interlacing Old School Death Metal to peak the sound off.
Inspiration comes from the best of sources, namely
Death, a bit of Chuck Schuldiner's solo project unimaginatively named just
Chuck Schuldiner, and in my opinion
Possessed.
Each of the 9 song is well crafted and averages at about 4 minutes, the songs don't get stale, with a high level of variance, but still have that generic Brutal Death Metal aggression.
I have never seen this band live, but it is on my to do list, however I do know some people who have, and they were impressed. Just by listening to the CD you can guess that this band is going to be good live, the release emphasises the musical ability of the members, the production value however has done a good job of producing a clear cut resonating sound. Unlike bands like
Mortician, they have opted for the sort clean sound and not the fuzzy static noise, and I am grateful for this, although Mortician pull it off perfectly as do other bands, it is one of the most overused traits in the Brutal Death Metal genre. A song I really liked is
Essence of Decay, they let loose the amazing guitar solo, and shows how high calibre the guitarist is, and once the solo is done, they unleash a fury of savagery, thus creating a nice balance of harmony and barbarity.
This release is pretty amazing, and Fleshrot are my favourite UK BDM band, and I am certain we have many good things to hear from them yet, I would love them to release a cover of a proper old school death metal song that what just be the piece de resistance for moi.
Rating: 78/100
Grind Out
