Fleshcrawl - Descend Into the Absurd
Review: Surging monuments to self destruction, these doomy death metal tracks hop deftly from raging blast to drastically delayed satisfaction through reduced tempo and melody, never losing their direct and basic power of concise and strictly phrased themes which emphasize structures in song leading to thematic conclusion. With the searing gut-resonating vocal that powers this work as rhythmic monotone pacing each level of structure with resistant last minute potential, its vector carries the listener through complexity to consistency.
Focus propels these explorations of rhythm and tone which often accelerate through gradual increases in intensity of sound and beat to culminations of glorious emptiness, themes slandering each other in a war of consonant but unresolved spaces attracting the gradual building tension of augmented melody. In a dramatic devolution similar to the abrupt cessation of sound in the wide and organic intro which opens the album, songs realize their thematic balance as an external and overpowering change throws the situation into another direction. Their pulsing riffs hide complexity in texture and placement and in doing so achieve an almost sublime integration to the overall motion of the song, as a classical piece might. (Odd men out are Reincarnation, a ripping death metal classic from Finland's Demigod, and a keyboard interlude by Dan Swanö.)
There will never be enough review space to praise the delicate refinement to the songwriting applied to guitar as a lead instrument, since the changes of timbre and string rhythm more than vocals or drums lead the evolution of song as expressed by this band. Their subtlety alongside bold and minimalistic power riffing allows the music to indulge its own paradox and make roaring headcase death metal. Rarely does a band advance songwriting to this degree, especially in a case like this where doom metal and death metal are truly integrated as a useful component of expressing a violently alienated but lucidly divine existence.