Homicidal Necrophile

San Antonio, Texas’ Flesh Hoarder have unleashed their debut offering entitled “Homicidal Necrophile”, and it is one hell of a piece of brutal death metal mastery! When I first heard of this album coming out, I was quite Intrigued. Mostly from the band’s logo and artwork, but I will say that these things trickled down into an extremely deep curiosity as to what this album could possibly sound like. I will go on record as saying that this will be one of the best brutal death metal album of 2018 without any doubt! There is an intensity here that many bands try to achieve, but they just end up sounding like a clusterfuck of pointless and directionless riffage with monotonous blast beats and vocals where the vocalist sounds like he’s trying to shit and puke at the same time. Flesh Hoarder is NOT this type of band. The intensity here is of a level that commands respect because the band has carefully covered all their bases in regards to their music. From the artwork, to the lyrics, to the music, song structure, and the presentation, They go to the extreme on every level. One could say that it’s all for shock value, but one listen to this album and I promise you that you will know and understand that the extremity and brutality of this release goes a lot deeper than that.

The riffs are pretty straightforward for this genre, but still over up vibes from other genres such as standard and traditional death metal with the inclusion of bands like a “crunchier” verson of “Whisper Supremacy” era Cryptopsy and a less muffled “Invocation of Evil” era Internal Bleeding as well as a slight faster “Tomb of the Mutilated” era Cannibal Corpse and the ever lovely Devourment. Combine this with with the traditional ideals of what makes brutal death metal and you have a band who has what it takes to be a “flagship” band for a label who knows what it takes, for a band playing this type of music, to make it. The drums are traditional yet unique as I expected to hear more blast beats than I did. I thought that the drumming was exceptionally “outside the box” as far as the genre is concerned. Sure, the foundation was there, but it was nice to hear a drummer go off on the left hand path and do things a bit different for a change. If the drumming of brutal death metal turns some listeners off from this genre, I urge you all to give this album a chance. You will not regret it. The bass was mixed well, but seemed held back a bit. Even so, it didn’t, hurt the overall enjoyment any. This CD still has that bottom heaviness that the fans of this genre enjoy. In regards to this, the bass on this release reminded me of the 2 releases by the brutal death metal band Retch. Some of you may remember that band. The vocals were really good here as well. The vocalist had a really good range and it took me back to a release in the mid 90’s. The vocals reminded me of those from the death metal band Judecca on their release “Scenes of an Obscure Death”. Now that is going back a bit! Let’s mix that with the vocal style on Bound and Gagged’s release “Fornicate the Gutted” and you have the basic idea of what’s going on here.

Flesh Hoarder have, undoubtedly, set a standard with this release. So, it is time for other bands of this genre to step up their game a bit. If you are already a fan of this genre, then I recommend that you get this release. If you are thinking of broadening your death metal horizons, then I recommend this release as an introduction to the brutal death metal genre. As, I said earlier, this will be the best brutal death metal album of 2018. Since this is their first album, I can only wonder if they can continue to outdo themselves with their next release. If they are, indeed, the band that they have shown me with this release, then I have no doubt that they will continue to release music of the highest degree and not settle for anything less. They have shown me a respectable reputation and an honor for this art in its truest form. Comatose Music did a damn fine job with this release!

At first, this album does not accurately represent itself.  That is to say, the intro is composed of riffs that are repeated four-eight times each with minimal effort in songwriting, zero portrayal of talent, and anticlimactic melodies.  Despite the awful intro, do not be deterred because the rest of the album is a complete joyride, taking the listener through relentless riffs, fast, even melodic solos (especially melodic for brutal death metal), and grotesque themes (as the album cover portrays).

With track titles like "Ejaculating on the Faces of the Aborted," "Hogtied and Deep Fried" and "Infatuation with Menstruation," this is pretty much your typical gore-obsessed brutal death metal act.  Sounding like a less raw Brodequin, Flesh Hoarder pull off a nice sound with, especially as most brutal death metal bands are pretty boring nowadays.

The riffs on here are actually pretty original.  There are fast segments in every song and quasi-slams scattered throughout the album.  This may seem pretty typical, but this time around, a band has actually gotten the formula right.  Noteable riffs can be found on "Hogtied and Deep Fried," a song that shows a lot of speed as well as a disturbing intro, "Necrotic Slut Chunks," and "Human Drapery."  All of these tracks show that Flesh Hoarder are capable of playing their instruments and playing them well.

As for the production of this album, it's pretty good, especially for a brutal death metal band.  It's not too gritty, but it's clean enough for the listener to hear all of the solos and riffs.  I mentioned Brodequin before.  Their sound is very muffled and dissonant because of the production, and it only got worse as their albums progressed.  If Brodequin had good production, I bet they'd sound like Flesh Hoarder.  These guys deserve the production they have because some of these riffs get technical (that is, technical for brutal death metal).

Another thing I would like to point out is the album structure.  The good songs are properly distributed throughout the album, giving the album actual flow.  Maybe bands like Cephalotripsy and Epicardiectomy should listen to this album and take some notes.  This is a great album and I'm fairly surprised that it isn't a bigger hit among metalheads than it is.  Point is, the album has a nice flow that isn't interrupted by slams and breakdowns, something that becomes a barrier once slams and breakdowns are incorporated into one's music.  This is because Flesh Hoarder do their slams and breakdowns right.

In total, there's really nothing to complain about with this release.  It's a fast, refreshing debut from a relatively young brutal death metal act.  The production, songwriting, musicianship, and structure are all great.  The only problem is that intro track.  If only they swapped the intro track for "Abuse of a Corpse," the other instrumental on here  Then this problem would have been fixed because "Abuse of a Corpse" is actually a good track.  I look forward to another release by these guys.  I would call this album one of my favorite brutal death metal albums so far this year.

Overall Rating: 97%

Originally written for themetalvoid.wordpress.com