If death metal that's about worshiping old school Swedish low tone brutality ain't your thing, you can stop reading right now. If you wouldn't know that these guys were German, you would probably bet that they were Swedes. But to Fleshcrawl's credit, I can't pick any particular band to compare them with while listening to this platter of splatter. Maybe it's because Swedish death metal is their biggest (somewhere between Entombed and Necrophobic), yet not the only influence. I hear some offensive Bolt Throwerish mid-paced ponderosity and comfortless melodicism (most notably on killer 'The Age of Chaos').

On 'Bloodsoul' the band mixes both previous albums' styles together, which are doomy death mayhem of 'Descend into the Absurd' and gory splash of 'Impurity' (respectively 1992 and 1993). The band succeeds the best with the most varying songs, such as 'Bloodsoul' and aforementioned 'The Age...'. More straightforward stuff, e.g. 'Nocturnal Funeral', usually finds int target and manage to deliver brutal enough beating. Yet I crave for the twisty stuff, because the straighter material is low on real peculiarities. Anyways, groovier 'Tomb of Memories' leaves a good taste. Demilich cover 'Embalmed Beauty Sleep' is weirdly placed as a third track. Fleshcrawl did not invent anything new here, but they sticked to their guns, doing what they probably more than love to do.

The Peter T

Rating: 7 (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
02/21/2006 15:19