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Just when one prepares to eschew Gothenburg-influenced resolutely and hand it over to the derivative metalcore schmucks who’ve bowdlerized it for the last three or four years, along comes a band of American young turks to remind us of what lent it its power in the first place. Taking cues from the very early Svenska melodic offenders (i.e. Eucharist, At the Gates, Dissection, Ceremonial Oath, In Flames and Dark Tranquillity), Beyond the Flesh bring back the near-folk melodic speed riffing and dual harmonic leads long since abandoned by all but those who are using them as a creative ruse between mongoloid-baiting breakdowns. With the first four tracks, a creative nirvana is achieved and maintained, licks sweetening and riffs bludgeoning. The fifth song, “The Sick,” however, detours the proceedings terribly, with a stupid USDM musical and lyrical style and a monotonous sub-guttural deathgrowl to boot. At less than three minutes, however, it is soon gone and well nigh forgotten, with the band returning to all previously mentioned strengths. The higher-end death screams are fantastic, the lyrics somewhere in the median of metal prose sophistication, the production itself clear, the mix thin and muddy. Not bad, though, for a record which was out for two years before being picked up by Screaming Ferret for proper release. Like kindred souls Divinity Destroyed, this is a band that will be on fire with a massive production to buttress its lofty musical ideals.
| Tracklist |
| 1. Rise Above The Weak |
| 2. Fleshwound |
| 3. The Scars That Remain |
| 4. Is This Life? |
| 5. The Sick |
| 6. Wastedland |
| 7. Darkest days |
| 8. Scattered Thoughts |
| 9. Prophecies Of The Dead |
| 10. What The Mind Perceives |
: 45.35
| Buy other Beyond The Flesh albums |
