''Made of Flesh'' is the seventh studio album by the German

death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...

band

Fleshcrawl Fleshcrawl is a German death metal band formed in Illertissen, Bavaria, in 1987. Their most recent album, ''Into the Catacombs of Flesh'', was released in 2019 under Apostasy Records. History 1987–1997 Fleshcrawl was formed by Stefan Ha ...

. It is considered the sequel to '' Soulskinner'' and is the first of their albums to feature their current guitarist Oliver Grbavac, who joined the band to replace founding member Stefan Hanus and the last to feature bass guitarist Tobias Schick. Being widely considered a de facto sequel to ''Soulskinner'', the two albums share a highly similar sound, which is general of Fleshcrawl's work since the late 1990s. Both albums feature prominent

Swedish death metal Swedish death metal is a death metal music scene developed in Sweden. Many Swedish death metal bands are associated with the melodic death metal movement, thus giving Swedish death metal a different sound from other variations of death metal. U ...

-style guitar work, composed of eminently

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular recu ...

riff A riff is a repeated chord progression or refrain in music (also known as an ostinato figure in classical music); it is a pattern, or melody, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instrument, that forms the basis or accompani ...

ing and short, moderately

technical Technical may refer to: * Technical (vehicle), an improvised fighting vehicle * Technical analysis, a discipline for forecasting the future direction of prices through the study of past market data * Technical drawing, showing how something is co ...

guitar solos, not unlike many contemporary bands of the

melodic death metal Melodic death metal (also referred to as melodeath) is a subgenre of death metal that employs highly melodic guitar riffs, often borrowing from traditional heavy metal (including New Wave of British Heavy Metal). The genre features the heavines ...

genre, particularly

Dismember Dismemberment is the act of cutting, ripping, tearing, pulling, wrenching or otherwise disconnecting the limbs from a living or dead being. It has been practiced upon human beings as a form of capital punishment, especially in connection with ...

Grave A grave is a location where a dead body (typically that of a human, although sometimes that of an animal) is buried or interred after a funeral. Graves are usually located in special areas set aside for the purpose of burial, such as grave ...

, and to an extent,

Arch Enemy Arch Enemy is a Swedish melodic death metal band, originally a supergroup from Halmstad, formed in 1995. Its members were in bands such as Carcass, Armageddon, Carnage, Mercyful Fate, Spiritual Beggars, The Agonist, Nevermore, and Eucharist. ...

. As is typical of Fleshcrawl's latest work, the melodic guitar rhythms are complemented with a familiar drum sound, consisting of

blast beats A blast beat is a type of drum beat that originated in hardcore punk and grindcore, and is often associated with certain styles of extreme metal, namely black metal and death metal,Adam MacGregor, ''PCP Torpedo'' by Agoraphobic Nosebleed revi ...

incorporated into highly embossed, yet not obtrusive, rapid

double bass drum The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter much greater than the drum's depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. Th ...

-rolls, with semi-guttural

death growl A death growl, or simply growl, is an extended vocal technique usually employed in extreme styles of music, particularly in death metal and other extreme subgenres of heavy metal music. Death growl vocals are sometimes criticized for their ...

s reminiscent of such

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

-based death metal bands as

Cannibal Corpse Cannibal Corpse is an American death metal band formed in Buffalo, New York in 1988, now based out of Tampa, Florida. The band has released fifteen studio albums, two box sets, four video albums, and two live albums. The band has had little radi ...

, Six Feet Under, and

Suffocation Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects primarily the tissues and organs. There are many circumstances that can i ...

. Lyrical themes of this album remain consistent with those of previous Fleshcrawl albums and of death metal in general. Subjects cover gory themes and concepts of evil, including

doomsday Doomsday may refer to: * Eschatology, a time period described in the eschatological writings in Abrahamic religions and in doomsday scenarios of non-Abrahamic religions. * Global catastrophic risk, a hypothetical event explored in science and fict ...

the apocalypse Apocalypse () is a literary genre in which a supernatural being reveals cosmic mysteries or the future to a human intermediary. The means of mediation include dreams, visions and heavenly journeys, and they typically feature symbolic imagery ...

("Beneath a Dying Sun", "Damned in Fire"),

demons A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology, and folklore; as well as in media such as comics, video games, movies, anime, ...

demonic possession Spirit possession is an unusual or altered state of consciousness and associated behaviors purportedly caused by the control of a human body by spirits, ghosts, demons, or gods. The concept of spirit possession exists in many cultures and reli ...

("Flesh Bloody Flesh", "Demons of the Dead"),

damnation Damnation (from Latin '' damnatio'') is the concept of divine punishment and torment in an afterlife for actions that were committed, or in some cases, not committed on Earth. In Ancient Egyptian religious tradition, citizens would recite th ...

("Forged in Blood"), and

necrophagy Scavengers are animals that consume dead organisms that have died from causes other than predation or have been killed by other predators. While scavenging generally refers to carnivores feeding on carrion, it is also a herbivorous feeding be ...

("Carnal Devourment"), among others. The Japanese release included a cover of "Rockin' Is My Business" by

The Four Horsemen The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are figures in the Christian scriptures, first appearing in the Book of Revelation, a piece of apocalypse literature written by John of Patmos. Revelation 6 tells of a book or scroll in God's right hand th ...

, a late-80s metal band from California; this song is dissimilar to every other song on the album, in that it doesn't cover general death metal lyrical themes of death, gore, violence, etc., but rather is about both the glory and tribulations of the music industry.

Track listing

# "Beneath a Dying Sun" – 4:41 # "Made of Flesh" – 4:03 # "Scourge of the Bleeding Haunted" – 3:59 # "Into the Depths of No Return" – 4:47 # "Flesh Bloody Flesh" – 3:20 # "Forged in Blood" – 4:59 # "Damned in Fire" – 2:39 # "Demons of the Dead" – 3:20 # "Carnal Devourment" – 3:57 # "When Life Surrenders" – 4:53 # "Rockin' Is My Business" (only included on the Japan release)

Personnel

* Sven Gross – vocals * Tobias Schick – bass * Oliver Grbavac – guitar * Mike Hanus – guitar * Bastian Herzog – drums

Production

* Produced by Fleshcrawl * Recorded and mixed at Studio Underground, Vasterås, Sweden, 3–21 November 2003 * Engineered by Pelle Saether and Lars Linden * Mixed by Pelle Saether & Fleshcrawl * Mastered by Achim Köhler at Indiscreet-Audio, Hohengehren, Germany * All music and lyrics by Fleshcrawl, except "Rockin' Is My Business", originally by

(Starr/Lizmi/Montgomery) * Cover artwork by Uwe Jarling * Photos by Alex Kuehr * Layout by Stefan & Mike Hanus * Graphic work by Stefan Hanus

References

''Made of Flesh''
at

Metal Blade Records Metal Blade Records is an American independent record label founded by Brian Slagel in 1982. The US office for Metal Blade is located in Agoura Hills, California. It also has offices in Germany, Japan, Canada, and the UK. The label is distrib ...

External links

Official band website
{{Authority control 2004 albums Fleshcrawl albums