Chair liquide

Extreme metal from France is always welcome so I was glad to discover these death metal warriors from Grenoble. While the somehow goofy name and the cover artwork of their second full length “Chair Liquide” might give a hint that they do not take themselves too serious the music here is great straight-into-the-face stuff, or like the lads might say some “face-melting” death metal goodness done in the way of old.

The sound is raw and filthy, putting enough dirt and grit into the music to convince even the pickiest purist. The riffing is straight-forward for most parts, departing from the main path only in exceptional cases. The trademark chords have a very traditional character and are pitched against some short but perfectly implemented harmonies. The bass is audible and even gets some moments to shine. Also the lead guitar work is great in some places, building a nice contrast to the mechanical rhythms.

While the instrumentation is top notch there are no flashy or overly technical sections. From the first note onwards it is pretty obvious that the intention of Liquid Flesh has been to take some of the best pieces of the genre and put them back together while injecting a little bit of their own DNA. There is nothing really new or innovative here, but the music is just so powerful and fresh that I really do not care about that. The songwriting is compact and on point without any unnecessary lengths or boring parts. The tracks flow into each other in nice fashion making the 40 minutes go by without noticing. That being said there are a few sections where Liquid Flesh mix up the standard patterns and throw in some more complex structures and nice build-ups.

I also need to mention singer (and also bass player) Bruce who has a powerful and demanding voice. His deep growling highlights the nasty old school feeling of the music and his delivery helps ramping up the intensity of the whole affair up a notch or two. Some might argue that this kind of approach might get a bit monotonous over the whole playing time, but I am a fan of this kind of stuff.

“Chair Liquide” is rounded off by a great production job. The guitars sound crunchy and the drums have enough punch and a natural and organic feel. So in case you are looking to enhance your collection by a true underground gem this album is highly recommended.