REVIEWS
INTERVIEWS
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UNREPENTANT - DIMINISHED FIFTH RECORDS D5R010 (2009)
Sweet mother of all things unholy! Nova Scotia’s Thy Flesh Consumed unleash some serious sonic destruction with their brand of blackened death metal. The band’s fourth studio album, Unrepentant, has a perfect title for the blasphemous sound it contains. There guys hurl bludgeoning death metal riffs, caustic vocals and more at you with little to no remorse.
Overall the album is full of death metal fueled, chunky riffing with plenty of crunch. The rhythms are pretty much full bore the whole time, but do let up here and there to keep from becoming overbearing. Vocally, the growls sit mostly within the mid-range, raspy growls, but do reach into the guttural depths from time to time, as well, as a few nicely timed shrieks.
All in all, there are a boat load of crappy death metal bands out there. Thy Flesh Consumed ain’t one of them. Buckle up and hit play cause these dudes mean serious, evil business.
Siege Engine Of Unreligion
“Siege Engine Of Unreligion” erupts right out of the gate with a massive wall of destruction complete with thundering drums, layered vocal mayhem and blackened guitars. Once the guys “settle” into the song, they really let loose with blasting drums, thick death fueled riffs and plenty of vocal aggression. The short tempo shifts are plenty to keep you fully at attention and ready for the next blast of bestial pandemonium.
The Disciplined Scorn
How do you match the ferocity of an opening track like that. It’s quite simple actually. You just amp up the vile evil a notch or two with thick riffing and animalistic drums. The vocals so far on the album are straight from the depths of Hades for sure. I’m not sure if it’s a dual attack or if this is just one talented dude, but it’s impressive nonetheless. The lead around the two minute mark has a great blackened texture to it.
Blood Drenched Creation
The opening guitar work on this next song is evil in a league with Satan. And you better damn well be ready for the drums when they finally get into the act. This is a blasting, furious track that’s dripping with contempt. The vocals, which I’m convinced is a dual attack, are delivered and layered perfectly giving the song some tremendous depth and power. The eruption of blasting drums at 1:54 leads into layered vocals that swirl amongst chaos and blackness. This is an awesome freakin song.
The Demolition Of Thought
Man, it’s been a long while since I’ve heard an album with as much vile aggression and power as Thy Flesh Consumed have doomed the earth with. “The Demolition of Thought” is merely another step in the band’s conquest of all those you listen to their blasphemous brand of death metal. The vocals seem even deeper than the previous tracks (if that’s even possible). I love the blasting black metal trade off with the thick, rumbling bass leads. This song is full of hulking, blackened riffs and manic drum work.
Ordinance Subservience
This next song has a decidedly more bleak atmosphere and much more of a blackened feel to the drums as they blast furiously behind the wall of guitars and rabid, evil vocals. This song is like getting caught in the middle of a violent tornado that’s going apeshit on your hometown. I love the trade off between the higher end and deep guttural growls.
Devout Heathen
Finally, a bit of a respite from the onslaught. “Devout Heathen” builds up slowly over the first 30 seconds or so into a pretty decent clip with thick bass and rapid fire drum work. The guitars are chunky and unrelenting as the vocals come in after the one minute mark. Throughout this track you’ll be bombarded with evil growls and blasting rhythms. These dudes know how to lay down the hate. I’m digging the chugging riffs and deep gutturals around the 4:20 mark that eventually end the track.
Hasten The Apocalypse
Wow. I’m not sure I want to continue with the album after that last song. I’d rather end on a high not instead of… oh wait… this song shreds too! It’s not nearly as bruising as “Devout Heathen” but what it lacks in punch it more than makes up for in blackened, thrashing malevolence. This thing has the evil spread on thick. There is a nice slow down midway through the song that really does a nice job of breaking up the blasting nature of the band — it’s also got some decent groove. That said, it doesn’t last long as the guys unleash chaotic hell with layered vocals, manic drum and spastic guitars. Holy shit, I’m going to need to change my shorts.
Sacrilege And Clarity
“Sacrilege And Clarity” starts off with rapid fire drums and thick, distant riffing. I’m imagining that this song would be the soundtrack of every lost soul’s entrance through the gates of Hell. It’s just got that certain something which makes it that much more evil than the rest of the album.
Thralldom Of The Crowning Mania
The guys wrap up this stellar album with “Thralldom Of The Crowning Mania,” a track thats got some of the thickest riffs on the album. The vocals, while still as violent as ever, seem to fade in the distance a bit, but perhaps that’s due to mild hearing loss after cranking up the volume on that last song. Thy Flesh Consumed keep the vileness and blackened death metal flowing like the River Styx with this song. Man, these dudes are pissed.
Mouth For War, 4/5, January 2010
www.mouthforwar.net
‘Unrepentant’ is already the fourth full-length by Canada’s thy Flesh Consumed and their first one for Diminished Fifth Records. To be honest I hadn’t heard of this band beforehand and I became aware of the fact that they already released their first album by themselves and the second and third album, ‘End Of Blind Obedience’ and ‘Pacified By Oceans Of Blood, through the to me unknown label CDN Records. So those are some albums to check out because I like what I hear on ‘Unrepentant’.
Musically this is death/grind with a slight black metal touch. The band rages on and on which means that you need to be concentrated when you listen to their music, but in the end you’ll hear some killer material. When you have to make a comparison I would say it’s a mix between Carcass (listen to the vocals) and Nile, but also Impiety or Hacavitz. You can place Thy Flesh Consumed somewhere amongst those acts. I realise this won’t be everyone’s cup of tea but if you like your metal fast and brutal a listening session is in place.
Pim B., Lords Of Metal, 79/100, January 2010
www.lordsofmetal.nl
Thy Flesh Consumed are one of those bands that death metal fans just love to love. Their music is uncompromisingly brutal and merciless, their ethos is unapologetically blasphemous, and they’re just underground enough that you feel really savvy to know about them.
Unrepentant is TFC’s fourth full-length release, and the songwriting it features is demonstrative of a band that knows how to work together. The songs are cohesive and have a surrounding quality that really promotes close attention and involvement during a listening session.
As all good brutal death metal bands do, Thy Flesh Consumed know how to make jaws drop with technicality and song complexity. However, they frequently push it a step further into a realm that almost crosses with black metal as the hurricane-force chaos of the parts becomes atmospheric rather than linear and structured. This owes mostly to the organic, old school production; this same album recorded with drum replacement, digital editing, and layers of polishing effects would lose most of what makes it special.
Unrepentant also stands out as having some of the best-written lyrics I’ve read this year. Lines such as “ Fallacious ritual obedience / Compliance in the absence of evidence” are not only metal as a bull’s nose ring, but they encourage thought, rebellion, and self-awareness where many death metal bands just string together gory and offensive nonsense.
Even if you’re a bought-and-sold flag waver for the new school of digi-polished whatever-core, give Thy Flesh Consumed a chance. Without bands like them we might forget why we all started wearing black in the first place.
Eric Burnet, PureGrainAudio, 7.5 / 10, December 16 2009
www.puregrainaudio.com
Thick and vicious, uncompromising and relentless, Unrepentant is a searing victory not only for eight year old grind/death quintet Thy Flesh Consumed but also for their respective genre. Smashing together an obvious adoration for the likes of early Carcass and Napalm Death with the more dynamic audio technicality of later death metal outfits, the end result on these nine songs is a brutal cacophony of detuned dirges, hammering blast-beats and banshee-esque vocal attacks. Packing in a plethora of riffs, breakdowns and trade-offs within each tune, the overall album is continually compelling with its where-are-they-going-next build up of anticipation without ever failing to follow it up with something of equal or greater value. Compounding the assault, the album is over in an ephemeral—at least for this type of extreme hybrid—in a matter of 40 minutes, ensuring the barrage is swift, pointed, heated and lasting.
Keith Carman, Hellbound, 8 / 10, January 2010
www.hellbound.ca
The fourth full-length release from Halifax, NS's Thy Flesh Consumed is extreme metal at its best. Unrepentant is fast, heavy, relentless and above all, demonic, showcasing a well-executed combination of death, grind and black metal. Starting with "Siege Engine of Unreligion," Thy Flesh Consumed unleash a sonic blast from the depths of hell, with non-stop chugging riffs, blast beats galore and vocalist Peter Mestre's violent guttural growls and screechy shrieks. Lyrically, Unrepentant lashes out at belief systems, both political and religious, and it works well, combined with the band's pure aggression on tracks like "The Demolition of Thought" and "Devout Heathen." With a sound that's clearly influenced by the likes of Nasum and Rotting Christ, their musical style, combined with the album's very raw production, makes Thy Flesh Consumed sound as if they're an old school Scandinavian band rather than a relatively new one from Canada.
Denise Falzon, Exclaim!, November 2009
www.exclaim.ca
Death metal's second and third tiers are filled with murky waters. Also-rans and upstarts seem to float in a sea of muck, rudderless, until the wind blows them along the shores of the current trends. Two options are particularly hot right now: Chunky, bare-bones and "old-school," or slicked-back, over-stylized, and undercooked. Bands usually latch on to one of these and set the autopilot, content to run on recycled fumes 'til they crash--silently--along the reef.
It's refreshing, then, when a relatively unheralded band such as Thy Flesh Consumed sweeps in, punches you in the face with a truckfull of blackened death metal, and leaves without saying a word. There's no regard for or sub-subgenre claimstaking; well-being and sustainability are out the window, too. To them, such things are as trivial are as the trends that bind their peers. Unrepentant is the work of five dudes that just want to expel some hate, and simply don't give a fuck about anything else. It's a snapshot of humanity: ugly, seething, nihilistic.
Aesthetically, the band have few flaws. The tones are spot-on: crunch-wrenched guitars mesh (un)pleasantly with the drumming, and the result is a warm, bloody bath of death metal satisfaction. It's a slightly muffled, rounded affair, but not in a negative way--Unrepentant has that subterranean, late-90's edge to it that has largely been absent in the computerized age. It's an organic, northern DM sound: working-class, violent, and decidedly vile.
That vibe carries the record, even as the songs blend into churning, churlish mass. There are few standout riffs, and those that do appear are quick to exit. The blackened vocals of Peter Mestre (also of Cephalectomy) are a highlight, but moreso due to their rapid, venomous delivery. Hooks are practically nonexistent. And, with time, the near-constant blastbeats become less relentless and more...incessant.
Admittedly, when the blood boils down, Unrepentant is a somewhat picayune offering. However, an underdog spirit permeates from its core, supplying a commendable tenacity--but not enough to garner repeated listens. Being their fourth album, Thy Flesh Consumed are unlikely to improve by leaps and bounds on future releases; but if these guys want to drop by every couple years, blast a hole in my face, and leave me to rot, I won't complain.
Jordan Campbell, Metal Review 6.2/10, December 2009
www.metalreview.com
Thy Flesh Consumed are a brutal death metal / grindcore five-piece from Halifax, Canada, whose goal seems to be to out-brutal the competition on their fourth album "Unrepentant", a brutal piece of composition equivalent to such terms as "blast beat hell" and "murderous delivery". See how I used the word brutal three times in a single sentence? Well, there's a reason for that, as you'll come to see.
Fans of Morbid Angel and Nasum should find Thy Felsh Consumed enjoyable, or so I am told by the promo sheet anyway, but generally if you know someone into guttural growls, scraping shrieks and plenty of serpentine-style death metal riffing, then "Unrepentant" should be on your list of late Christmas presents to purchase for that person. Anyone finished their xmas shopping yet?
The music ranges between your typical death metal expression and more chaotic deathgrind passages, and the lyrics deal with anti-religion, warfare and socio-political issues, though it's unlikely you'll be paying attention to these issues without a lyrics sheet. Their vocals are simply too growly for that. While there isn't anything technically wrong with "Unrepentant", it's difficult to praise the release because honestly, it could've been released by any of the common denominator bands in the deathgrind / death metal genre. As such, die-hard fans of the genre will find Thy Flesh Consumed an entirely decent, if completely unsurprising and by-the-books outfit.
PP, Rock Freaks 6/10, December 2009
www.rockfreaks.net
Formed in 2001, Halifax, Nova Scotia's Thy Flesh Consumed are already at their fourth full-length album. Long story short: This is like hitting a wall of sound. Not much breathing room on this near 42 minutes album – it's heavy, fast and busy, with very little "down time."
The drums pretty much blast away from beginning to end, which becomes a bit repetitive, if not boring at times, though there are of course more intricate parts where the drummer gets more… creative if you will. The growls differ a little bit, with some parts sounding deeper and more guttural, and other a bit more "screechy" (while still remaining growls, of course.) The latter are somewhat decipherable, and the combination of both styles helps bring in some variety. On the guitars side, things can also get a little repetitive, but this makes the solos and more distinctive riffs even more obvious, so as bizarre as this may sound, the end result is pretty cool – even though the production is a bit lacking and sometimes it's hard to tell things apart. This stuff is not unlike what you'd hear from some of the U.S. Death Metal bands – Immolation et al., so if you like that type of unrelenting assault on your aural senses, then Unrepentant may just be up your alley.
Michel Renaud, The Metal Crypt 3.5/5, December 2009
www.metalcrypt.com
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