Flesh for the Beast - Scavengers of the Damned
I've said it before, and I'll say it again---a person just cannot keep a truly good band down. In keeping with the unholy crusades of bands like Immolation, Deicide, and Vital Remains, Flesh for the Beast have unleashed a towering set of war anthems against all that is clean and light in this world with Scavengers of the Damned. The fearsome Grand Rapids, Michigan quintet last struck with 2005's rabid Devouring, an album of blood-soaked riffs and furious, feeding-frenzy styled percussion. Though the wait has unfortunately been a long one, Scavengers of the Damned is even more ferocious than its already brutal predecessor. My hopes were high (these guys are local luminaries, personal friends, and talented musicians all) but my expectations were totally exceeded; Scavengers is an outright massacre, the sort of unbridled death-trip fans of classic Floridian death metal crave late at night.
Scavengers of the Damned shows continued growth for F4TB, a technical powerhouse that exhausts none of the band's sickening catchiness. The whole progressive evolution is best related to a shotgun with better ammo; the thing shoots straighter, but either way the target is gonna get f*cked up! The title track itself makes this readily apparent in its opening lines of putrid groove and sinister menace. Out of this swirling blood storm there emerges a Cannibal Corpse-esque lead, the entirety of which hits you again and again like a hammer before flawlessly transitioning into a fiery solo. "Dying for the Cross" rolls in on some gnarly percussion, and soon degenerates into a slamming series of kicks square into the spine. Things flow with all the sticky grace of spraying blood, and the song wraps itself tighter than a noose around the neck. "Realm of Darkness" flays listeners with clever tremolo-picking and start/stop theatrics only to congeal into a slamming death metal anthem that would do justice to Deicide. The songs tricky fret-work repeatedly brings listeners to the brink of madness, only to push them off towards the end into a gloriously churning maelstrom of abrasive groove. "Tormented" lets quietly agonized percussion lead in a wall of tortured guitar lines before launching into a blackened-death metal assault that would do the masters proud. The unexpected surprise of "Diablos Act I" adds some intriguing variety to the mix, its mesmerizing and psychotic Spanish guitar rhythms being both technical and hypnotic at the same time. "And Then You Suffer" is an exercise in blunt-force trauma and manic guitars. Every bit as spastic as Cattle Decapitation, the song nonetheless features a primitive beatdown quality that only Obituary does better. "Covered in Blood" soaks listeners in blistering death metal that alternatively blasts and erodes, its explosive killing power able to be switched into prowling, tense bloodlust with ease. "Death is Calling" is a near-endless sledgehammer of groove, its harmonic-packed beatdown making 99.9% of modern hardcore breakdowns instantly irrelevant. The song is surgically-methodical and cuts with patient, slicing guitars and a slowly dying heartbeat of heavy drums. "Impaled by Thorns" has so much going on with it that proper dissection is a bit difficult on my part. A filthy blackened death line seamlessly transitions into death metal riffs thrown like haymakers. From there, things get even better with a moment or two of diabolical Meshuggah-worshipping groove and an eventual descent into darker passages reminiscent of Morbid Angel to a degree. Closing opus "Forever in Hell" is a blitzkrieg of raw, pummeling aggression and wicked palm-mutes galore. As far as death metal goes, this is the aural equivalent of total war in one's ears---the song is fast, loud, caustic, and manic. Ending things on a destructive note, Scavengers of the Damned proves to be a deranged, wild ride.
And what a ride it is. The whole reason I founded this column a few years back is to hype, advertise, or shill the best that the underground of music has to offer the mainstream. Scavengers of the Damned is one such offering, an album fully aware of its old-school, muscular violence and bloody, visceral music. While most of today's death metal is too catchy to really give off the vibe of evil, manic blood-letting that all good death metal does, Flesh for the Beast know how to unleash the monster all while keeping it memorable and epic at the same time. Scavengers of the Damned truly is a work far above an unsigned band (especially one in the crowded death metal scene) and the predatory hunger exuded here showcases a band smelling fresh blood. If reading all this conjures relentlessly angry urges to rip-and-tear everything in sight, heed my advice and listen when I say that no other death metal album for $10 or under will be as immensely satisfying as this one this year. Ravenous and unpredictable, here's hoping that Flesh for the Beast continues to feed on the tired corpse of pretend death metal on offer today. Either way, this is one helluva throwback or a definite must buy for 2007's death metal fan.
Flesh for the Beast's Scavengers of the Damned
1. Scavengers of the Damned
2. Dying for the Cross
3. Realm of Darkness
4. Tormented
5. Diablos Act I
6. And Then You Suffer
7. Covered in Blood
8. Death is Calling
9. Impaled by Thorns
10. Forever in Hell
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