Clean Flesh

Joe Wolfe is an absolute force of nature when it comes to the music he creates. Heinous Killings is his main baby as we all know, being one of the most loved brutal death metal acts of the modern era. However, before Heinous Killings was a lovely little project titled Clean Flesh, who would later change their name to Erotic Incisions. The EP I'm about to review is the total opposite of being "clean", because this is some of the most bile-ridden, dirt caked death metal of 1997.

Even looking at the real image of a morgue, you know for a fact that there's nothing clean about this release. The eerie black and white filter just makes the presentation all the more disturbing and it gives off a cold, almost sterile feeling. There isn't much to be said about the cover, however, the musicianship and the overall presentation is something that's deserving of being dissected. Out of everything on this release, I'd say the guitars are my absolute favourite aspect, and I normally go for vocals, but for this one I wanted to focus on the riffs first, because there are PLENTY of riffs to go around. It's not all just grindy parts and gruesome slams, there's a decent about of compositional work shown here by guitarists Steeve Haas and Rick Smith. Usually when bands throw in melodic bits, they tend to be somewhat flashy and add a bit more of a "lighter" contrast to the heavier music. However, Clean Flesh create melodies that scream out pure depravity and disgust, often working alongside the low end slams, beatdowns and grindier bits. The solos are another aspect that add another layer of atmosphere to the sound, almost reminding me of Torsofuck's spastic solos they'd throw into the chaotic mess of brutal death and grind. Clean Flesh often keep it simple while still maintaining that creepy, schizo vibe to the music and it works in their favour. The riffs are really intriguing for a release like this and it embraces the chaotic song structures as well as the talent honed by both guitarist rather than leaving anything in the background to be forgotten about.

The bass parts ride between the riffs, keeping on a balance as opposed to being too existent and non-existent. You could just about hear the doomy rumble of the bass especially on the slower parts in songs like "Dying in Sewage Matter" and "Immoral Sex Habits". Drums are a nice selection of blasts, off-beat grooves, traditional death metal gallops and the obvious half-time beats. Of course, it's worth mention that Wolfe programmed the drums himself, and he seems to have carefully planned out his structures quiet well. Nothing seems accidental with the way the drums are programmed.

Now of course, we get on to the vocals. Wolfe is one of those death metal vocalists that can create some of the most inhuman sounds with his voice, and after a few listens you start to follow along with his techniques and the way he uses his vocals. Inhales are the name of the game, as is mostly the case with Wolfe, and they're fucking nasty! So many people cry about inhales and shit, yet they gloss over the fact that A LOT of brutal death vocalists use inhales to some degree. With Wolfe it's a constant, bringing in some horrific crackly low gutturals and high pitched pig squeals that were a rare commodity in 1997. This was all before he would adopt his predator technique as well, and this was before pig squeals found their way into brutal death metal as a whole. A lot of people think those vocals started with deathcore, and let me say, they're wrong. It was embraced, not pioneered with deathcore. This EP is strong evidence of that notion I feel. Wolfe also does a couple phlegmy high screams but they're used for instrumentation rather than lyrics, but when they're used they sound evil as fuck!

I love the lyrics on this as well, they're very nasty, standard brutal death lyrics but they're told in such graphic detail you basically feel like the victim of whatever depraved serial killer is torment the poor fuckers in these lyrics. "Dying in Sewage Matter" genuinely makes me feel like I'm drowning in sewage matter with open sores, and it's effective image planting that makes these kinds of lyrics entertaining to read.

I've always adored the work Joe Wolfe has done, and it's a shame that given his current situation, he won't be able to continue creating music. Illness is an ugly bitch and it fucking sucks to be in that situation, so I feel for him 100% . But if he or one of his ex-band mates happens to see this review, I sent my love to Joe and I thank him for being a big part in the brutal death metal scene. I also understand he had a hardcore project at one point so I'd definitely like to hear something from that. With that being said, get on this EP, it's a bloody good time and some of the stompiest, face-breaking brutal death you could find from the late 90s! Be sure to also check out Erotic Incisions, Sick Hymns, Torn In Half and Heinous Killings too!

Well, where can I start? Surely Clean Flesh didn’t conquer the world with this one and only release in their discography. This homonymous EP was put out in 1997 and we can easily describe the music inside as a brutal death metal with some other extreme influences. The vocals are grunt and mostly on pig style while the drum machine is so cold on the blast beats that it can be easily seen as a grindcore-goregrind one for the aseptic sound and the clear-cut, manic precision of the beats.

Already from this description, the scenario is not a happy one and we cannot find funny stuff because here everything is cold, chirurgical and dead. The production is not bad at all because it’s perfect in giving the right powerful to the instruments and the right atmosphere for these sick pieces of pig style gore/death metal. Since the opener “Coprophagy” we are submerged by relentless blast beats, slow breaks, rotten guitars and the inhuman, distorted vocals. They are totally incomprehensible.

The solos are, however, quite good in giving the right dramatic and perverted touch. The bass drums beats are just synthetic and not credible in speed and sound. The drum machine is more audible in those parts, because the snare drum doesn’t sound that horrible, as well as the cymbals. As you might imagine, there’s no much variation in terms of songwriting. All the songs here are quite similar because there are no emotional or standout moments: everything is planned to be cold, martial and perverted.

The inevitable influences come form Mortician even if here the general distortion of the instruments is more human but always “alien” in terms of heaviness and putridity. I mean that is not normal, at least for me, to listen to this kind of excessive brutality. The doom breaks are putrid, they smell of decompositions while the riffs are on some kind of tremolo picking but the sounds are quite confused thanks to the overused treble distortion. The bass is inaudible, always if there’s a bass here.

Overall, this album is not that accessible and to enter into this you must be strong or simply a fan of these lurid, vicious and cold sounds. This is pure gore/grind and that’s it for me!