originally written by Erik Thomas
Further cementing the UK’s recent underground death metal growth and improvement over the last few years by the likes of Ingested, Trigger the Bloodshed, Sarpanitum, Annotations of an Autopsy, Man Must Die, Porkfarm(also on Deepsend Records), Detrimentum, and Ignominious Incarcerationcomes a very tight little sophomore album from London’s Fleshrot.
Though unimaginatively named and themed (most tracks are about the usual death metal topics of death, violence, perversion etc.), the fact is that the band’s US styled take on death metal is actually very well done and at least shows some maturity over the band’s 2005 debut, Gore- A-Holic, which featured song titles like “Drowned In Menstrual Excrement” and “Cut N Fucked”. For example, it appears the band went to the Suffocation school of song titles, since the likes of “Essence of Decay”, “Venatic Perversion”, “Expanding The Void” and “Inherent Perdition” now grace the album.
But regardless of lyrical themes, the fact remains that Fleshrot has released a very, very solid death metal album that, like the recent release from fellow countrymates Trigger the Bloodshed, might slip under the radar amidst 2010’s bigger-named releases. Heck, it’s taken me 5 months to get a review out. And it’s actually a shame because Deepsend looks to have found a very talented band. Don’t get me wrong, Traumatic Reconfiguration isn’t going to change death metal or be on many year-end lists, but as I sit here and listen to excellent tracks like opener “From the Abyss”, “Dispossessed” (is that a nod to Bolt Thrower I hear at the beginning?), “Expanding the Void” (with some very sly melodies tucked into the blasting) and the title track (with a very cool groove/lurch), I can’t help recall the likes of US acts like (a chunkier) Monstrosity, Malevolent Creation, Immolation and Cannibal Corpse, not just in style and substance, but also in confidence and skill.
The balance between complexity and brutality is finite — the band isn’tDecrepit Birth, but neither are they a mindless blast fest like say Hour of Penance (though they can certainly crank out the merciless blasts as heard in superb closer “Oblivion”). Rather, they’re a bristling and blasting foray of controlled intensity that somehow commands your attention, even without any real credentials or respectable back catalog. Armed with a very stout production that balances modern polish and old school beef, the songs are brutal yet memorable and have staying power above and the beyond the sonic battery that’s expected from a death metal album.
Like Dawn of Demise, Porkfarm, Diluvian, Devast and The Cleansing,Deepsend has found yet another very promising death metal act that deserves your attention. Check ’em out.
