After Swedish death metal, I’d put New Yawk/East Coast, slammy, groovy death metal as one of my next favorite styles in the genre. So when I get a promo that lists ‘For fans of Dying Fetus, Suffocation, Pyrexia and Skinless’, I damn well check out that promo.

Fleshgore is a Ukrainian band that has been around since 2000 with 5 full-length albums under their belt, and somehow with everything going on (and multiple lineup changes), has managed to belt out a sixth album, and it fucking slays.

The above referenced bands are pretty much all you need to know. This is pure NYDM with so many goddamn grooves and slams, that Frank Mullen’s chopping hand would fall off. Literally, every song on this killer album has some sort of Dying Fetus/Suffocation-like stomp and breakdown that cull from Destroy The Opposition and Effigy of the Forgotten. 

Where to even start? The album gets right the fuck to it with an opening groove immediately starting “Distorted Lights”, where the Dying Fetus influence isn’t just worn on their sleeve, it’s fucking carved out of their arm flesh.  Or how about the title track’s massive grooves, or the killer waltz-y stomp of personal favorite “Inhuman Existence”, or loping, pinch harmonic devastation of  “Buried Truth” or the huge grooving march in “Hive of Insanity”? It keeps going and going and  I can literally keep going and cover every track right to short, sharp closer “Ad Astra”

All of it is rendered with a nice big, but razor-sharp guitar tone and vocals from Italian transplant vocalist Michele Borniotto, who is channeling his inner Jon Gallagher/Jason Netherton with dual deep growls and shouts with aplomb. Just listen to “Frail Utopia” and tell me thats ‘s not pure Gallagher/Netherton/Voyles era Dying Fetus worship through and through.

 Carnival of Flesh is also one of those albums that makes me go back and buy a band’s entire discography. It is also one of those albums that I get every year that is a late-year/December release that jacks with the year-end list that I’ve been carefully crafting for weeks.  And this year it’s Carnival of Flesh.. Good Job guys.

[Visit the band's website]

---

Comments