Music Banter - View Single Post - The Playlist of Life --- Trollheart's resurrected Journal

Trollheart · 10-21-2014, 11:21 AM

A new week, and as we head into the third week of Metal Month II, time to watch those sharp edges as we sidle past and once again enter

Surely this time I can get something a little more palatable than grindcore, death or black metal? Out of the many thousands --- or more --- of metal bands there are, it seems ludicrous that I keep coming up with the same stale selection, to say nothing of the fact that a huge percentage of the bands who pop up are either disbanded or unsigned. Oh well, off we go! Again.

Yeah. Thanks for that.

Not only death metal, but brutal death metal! Oh, and the "G" word too! Fan-fucking-tastic! And to make things worse, this band has albums! That probably means I'll be able to find something by them, which in turn means that, right out of the gate, I'm going to end up featuring the first band to fall out of the Grinder. Well, let's have a look...

Fleshgrind, eh? You know, I can hear Batty's cackling laughter even from here! Has he paid off the folks at EM to make sure I only end up getting selections from extreme metal bands? I do have to wonder. Maybe he's affiliated with them in some way. Meh, thought I was getting away with it but I had actually entered “efleshgrind” into Spotify which, while it sounds like a death metal band formed in Middle Earth, is in fact incorrect spelling and of course returned zero results. Quite to my chagrin, when I spelled it correctly, two albums came up, so I guess I'm stuck with these guys. Let's meet them, and hope they don't pull out our entrails and eat them in front of us: such table manners, gents!

Band name: Fleshgrind
Nationality: American
Subgenre: Brutal Death Metal
Born: 1993
Died: 2005
Status: No longer active; split up
Albums: “Destined for defilement” (1997), “The seeds of abysmal torment" (2000) and “Murder without end” (2003)
Live albums: “Live in Germany” (2002)
Collections/Anthologies/Boxsets: None
Lineup: Steve Murray (Guitars)
Rich Lipscomb (Vocals)F
James Genenz (Bass)
Jesse Kehoe (Drums

Not a whole lot of information about these guys that I can give you, other than that they broke up in 2005 after founder Rich Lipscomb left the band. An interesting point is that Lipscomb actually owned a record label (United Guttural Records) though surprisingly, none of the band's three albums or even their demos were recorded on that label. Very odd. Lipscomb anyway sold the label after he quit the band.

As I say, Fleshgrind released three albums before their dissolution in 2005, and there are two on Spotify so I have decided to go with the last of the three, their final album before disbanding. Given that there is a grindcore label attached to them also, it may not really make that much difference which I review, but this is the one I've plumped for. Apparently they were pretty big in the subgenre before breaking up, playing with the likes of Cannibal Corpse and Suffocation, so let's see what all the fuss was about.

Murder without end --- Fleshgrind --- 2005 (Olympic Recordings)

Such lovely song titles as “Perversions of innocence”, “Duct taped and raped” and “Holy pedophile” (sic) give me an idea of what I have to look forward to. Better strap myself in, cos this ain't gonna be pretty! Oh, so you think you can fool me with an ambient piano intro do you? Do you not realise I have been listening to all stripes of metal these last few months and I know what to expect --- and there it is. Hard, hammering guitar, a vocal you could cut stone with and we're off with the title track. Oh, this is fun! Well at least it's short, and we're into “Sycophantic”, which probably should be spelled “Sick-o-phantic”, if you look at the lyric, which I rather stupidly did. Well I surely can't make out the vocals, so why not? Why not indeed. Worse is to come though in “Duct taped and raped”, which is not only about a rape, but an incestuous one. Here is some of the lyric: ”Cunt this is a long time coming/ Daddy's home and he's not alone/ He's brought with him deviant plan/ And a roll of tape in his hand/ The girl looks on in horror/ At the man that lurks before her/ Her eyes widen with shock/ As the fiend unsheathes his cock! “ Yeah, I tried to listen but I honestly couldn't make out any words: it just sounds like this guy Rich is grunting like a pig. Oh, I can make out the chorus, such as it is. Another blindingly fast, crushing guitar assault with what I see as little or no melody. Slows down in the last minute or so, then picks up again for the finish.

Great! Now EM's website appears to have gone down! In protest at this crap music perhaps? Well I suppose I kid but man it's terrible, from the so-called music to the singing and from the lyrical content to the all-out aural assault I'm cowering under here. I think the next track is called “Enslaved to my wrath” --- yeah, it is --- but when I tried to call up the lyric sheet that's when the website folded on me. Coincidence I presume, but it knocks me off my stride. Not that I need the lyrics or anything, but since I can't glean anything from the singing I was intending to see if I could understand the songs by reading the lyrics. The second track, “Sycophantic”, did seem to have some sort of idea in it, where the singer was kind of disgusted with himself for being into this perverted porn, and wondered why he did it, then also wondered why the girls who engaged in it did so. At least there is some thought behind the songwriting then.

But without the lyric sheet I'm kind of stuck for anything to say, and without any way to perhaps pay Fleshgrind any kind of compliment, because they're sure not getting it for the music! Let's try again .. huzzah! Success! We're back. So now, what about this song? Well they may be talking about Satan here, as they speak of “thousands of victims”, but again yeah, there's some intelligence in the lyrics, as again the victim is blamed for (presumably) her torture, as Lipscomb growls ”Your overwhelming hunger / For punishment drives you.” Indeed. “Display my decay” is another Slayer-type serial killer song, with a decent enough beat to be fair and the first really good guitar solo I've heard on this album, displaying actual melody! Shock! Again Lipscomb blames the victim: ”Accept your fucking fate/ You have surely earned it.” Won't stand up in court, son!

Seems this band worked with a wide variety of lyrical themes, including murder, rape, sexual deviancy and, er, murder and rape. “Perversions of innocence” continues the trend, a more galloping beat and machinegun guitar, Lipscomb still sounding like a beast (is he putting in snorts and squeals there, or is this just how he sings?) while with the joyous exclamation ”Let the torture begin!” you know what you're in for as “In sickness intertwined” opens and cannons along, pretty much the same as most of the rest of the tracks here. And just to underline the point, “Libertine atonement” starts with the word “Whore!” but I must sort of compliment them on an interesting, if brutal turn of phrase in the lines ”Panties soaked with shit and piss/ Tongue the ass and clitoris.” Shakespeare would be proud! I must admit, it made me grin a little. They don't write 'em like that any more!

It's actually a slower, doomier song with hard but not breakneck drumming and a dark guitar running things. Nah, even with the lyric sheet I can't make out more than a few words this guy is growling. Not that, looking at the lyrics, I'd really want to! Big guitar ending, slow and doomy to this song and then we're almost finished. “Pistolwhipped” at least has the violence being perpetrated by a third party, an interrogation of sorts, and like the other tracks carrens along on a hard, brutal guitar and we end on “Holy pedophile” (sic) which I think was their first single, so why it's on this album, their third and last, I don't know. Or care.The lyrics to this make any Slayer song against Christ seem tame by comparison, as Fleshgrind upbraid the Catholic Church for its policy of ignoring clerical abuse, though they couch it in stronger terms than that: ”Defecation covered cock/ Slicing through the young boys bowels/ Cries of pain, piercing screams/ Grunts of pleasure, cum in you!“ Another fast song, in case you couldn't guess, though it has moments where it slows down, in what I think is the chorus. Big hard (climactic?):

ending on guitar, not too bad really.

TRACKLISTING

1. Murder without end
2. Sycophantic
3. Duct taped and raped
4. Enslaved to my wrath
5. Displayed decay
6. Perversions of innocence
7. In sickness intertwined
8. Libertine atonement
9. Pistolwhipped
10. Holy pedophile

Yeah. I really enjoyed this. I guess it was interesting looking at the lyrics, and it did prove that, despite the music which I really didn't like very much (ya think?) and the completely indecipherable vocals, there was some decent songwriting on this album. Lyrics that were not so much close to the bone as cutting right through it, they did nevertheless at times reveal some thought and even some introspection on the part of the songwriter, who I think is Rich Lipscomb. But I found it virtually impossible to enjoy the music, being completely unable to make out the vocals and, in addition, realising what they were singing about. It was all just a little bit too much like creepy voyeurism. Although I must admit it was kinda fun...

Oh well, they're gone now and I need worry about them no more. One more edition of this to go before we close Metal Month II: let's hope I have better luck next week than I've been having so far throughout this month!

You know, even though the lyrics were really --- and I mean really -- X-rated, on some level they were quite amusing. At least if I ever want to rape my sixteen-year old daughter I've got a blueprint now. Let's see... duct tape? Yep! That's all I need! Fleshgrind's almost comical approach to a really harrowing ordeal --- which I hope nobody seriously thinks I'm making light of, nor in any way condone --- earns them an extra cleaver they probably don't really deserve, but what the hell?

10-21-2014, 11:21 AM	#2419 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	A new week, and as we head into the third week of Metal Month II, time to watch those sharp edges as we sidle past and once again enter Surely this time I can get something a little more palatable than grindcore, death or black metal? Out of the many thousands --- or more --- of metal bands there are, it seems ludicrous that I keep coming up with the same stale selection, to say nothing of the fact that a huge percentage of the bands who pop up are either disbanded or unsigned. Oh well, off we go! Again. Yeah. Thanks for that. Not only death metal, but brutal death metal! Oh, and the "G" word too! Fan-fucking-tastic! And to make things worse, this band has albums! That probably means I'll be able to find something by them, which in turn means that, right out of the gate, I'm going to end up featuring the first band to fall out of the Grinder. Well, let's have a look... Fleshgrind, eh? You know, I can hear Batty's cackling laughter even from here! Has he paid off the folks at EM to make sure I only end up getting selections from extreme metal bands? I do have to wonder. Maybe he's affiliated with them in some way. Meh, thought I was getting away with it but I had actually entered “efleshgrind” into Spotify which, while it sounds like a death metal band formed in Middle Earth, is in fact incorrect spelling and of course returned zero results. Quite to my chagrin, when I spelled it correctly, two albums came up, so I guess I'm stuck with these guys. Let's meet them, and hope they don't pull out our entrails and eat them in front of us: such table manners, gents! Band name: Fleshgrind Nationality: American Subgenre: Brutal Death Metal Born: 1993 Died: 2005 Status: No longer active; split up Albums: “Destined for defilement” (1997), “The seeds of abysmal torment" (2000) and “Murder without end” (2003) Live albums: “Live in Germany” (2002) Collections/Anthologies/Boxsets: None Lineup: Steve Murray (Guitars) Rich Lipscomb (Vocals)F James Genenz (Bass) Jesse Kehoe (Drums Not a whole lot of information about these guys that I can give you, other than that they broke up in 2005 after founder Rich Lipscomb left the band. An interesting point is that Lipscomb actually owned a record label (United Guttural Records) though surprisingly, none of the band's three albums or even their demos were recorded on that label. Very odd. Lipscomb anyway sold the label after he quit the band. As I say, Fleshgrind released three albums before their dissolution in 2005, and there are two on Spotify so I have decided to go with the last of the three, their final album before disbanding. Given that there is a grindcore label attached to them also, it may not really make that much difference which I review, but this is the one I've plumped for. Apparently they were pretty big in the subgenre before breaking up, playing with the likes of Cannibal Corpse and Suffocation, so let's see what all the fuss was about. Murder without end --- Fleshgrind --- 2005 (Olympic Recordings) Such lovely song titles as “Perversions of innocence”, “Duct taped and raped” and “Holy pedophile” (sic) give me an idea of what I have to look forward to. Better strap myself in, cos this ain't gonna be pretty! Oh, so you think you can fool me with an ambient piano intro do you? Do you not realise I have been listening to all stripes of metal these last few months and I know what to expect --- and there it is. Hard, hammering guitar, a vocal you could cut stone with and we're off with the title track. Oh, this is fun! Well at least it's short, and we're into “Sycophantic”, which probably should be spelled “Sick-o-phantic”, if you look at the lyric, which I rather stupidly did. Well I surely can't make out the vocals, so why not? Why not indeed. Worse is to come though in “Duct taped and raped”, which is not only about a rape, but an incestuous one. Here is some of the lyric: ”Cunt this is a long time coming/ Daddy's home and he's not alone/ He's brought with him deviant plan/ And a roll of tape in his hand/ The girl looks on in horror/ At the man that lurks before her/ Her eyes widen with shock/ As the fiend unsheathes his cock! “ Yeah, I tried to listen but I honestly couldn't make out any words: it just sounds like this guy Rich is grunting like a pig. Oh, I can make out the chorus, such as it is. Another blindingly fast, crushing guitar assault with what I see as little or no melody. Slows down in the last minute or so, then picks up again for the finish. Great! Now EM's website appears to have gone down! In protest at this crap music perhaps? Well I suppose I kid but man it's terrible, from the so-called music to the singing and from the lyrical content to the all-out aural assault I'm cowering under here. I think the next track is called “Enslaved to my wrath” --- yeah, it is --- but when I tried to call up the lyric sheet that's when the website folded on me. Coincidence I presume, but it knocks me off my stride. Not that I need the lyrics or anything, but since I can't glean anything from the singing I was intending to see if I could understand the songs by reading the lyrics. The second track, “Sycophantic”, did seem to have some sort of idea in it, where the singer was kind of disgusted with himself for being into this perverted porn, and wondered why he did it, then also wondered why the girls who engaged in it did so. At least there is some thought behind the songwriting then. But without the lyric sheet I'm kind of stuck for anything to say, and without any way to perhaps pay Fleshgrind any kind of compliment, because they're sure not getting it for the music! Let's try again .. huzzah! Success! We're back. So now, what about this song? Well they may be talking about Satan here, as they speak of “thousands of victims”, but again yeah, there's some intelligence in the lyrics, as again the victim is blamed for (presumably) her torture, as Lipscomb growls ”Your overwhelming hunger / For punishment drives you.” Indeed. “Display my decay” is another Slayer-type serial killer song, with a decent enough beat to be fair and the first really good guitar solo I've heard on this album, displaying actual melody! Shock! Again Lipscomb blames the victim: ”Accept your fucking fate/ You have surely earned it.” Won't stand up in court, son! Seems this band worked with a wide variety of lyrical themes, including murder, rape, sexual deviancy and, er, murder and rape. “Perversions of innocence” continues the trend, a more galloping beat and machinegun guitar, Lipscomb still sounding like a beast (is he putting in snorts and squeals there, or is this just how he sings?) while with the joyous exclamation ”Let the torture begin!” you know what you're in for as “In sickness intertwined” opens and cannons along, pretty much the same as most of the rest of the tracks here. And just to underline the point, “Libertine atonement” starts with the word “Whore!” but I must sort of compliment them on an interesting, if brutal turn of phrase in the lines ”Panties soaked with shit and piss/ Tongue the ass and clitoris.” Shakespeare would be proud! I must admit, it made me grin a little. They don't write 'em like that any more! It's actually a slower, doomier song with hard but not breakneck drumming and a dark guitar running things. Nah, even with the lyric sheet I can't make out more than a few words this guy is growling. Not that, looking at the lyrics, I'd really want to! Big guitar ending, slow and doomy to this song and then we're almost finished. “Pistolwhipped” at least has the violence being perpetrated by a third party, an interrogation of sorts, and like the other tracks carrens along on a hard, brutal guitar and we end on “Holy pedophile” (sic) which I think was their first single, so why it's on this album, their third and last, I don't know. Or care.The lyrics to this make any Slayer song against Christ seem tame by comparison, as Fleshgrind upbraid the Catholic Church for its policy of ignoring clerical abuse, though they couch it in stronger terms than that: ”Defecation covered cock/ Slicing through the young boys bowels/ Cries of pain, piercing screams/ Grunts of pleasure, cum in you!“ Another fast song, in case you couldn't guess, though it has moments where it slows down, in what I think is the chorus. Big hard (climactic?): ending on guitar, not too bad really. TRACKLISTING 1. Murder without end 2. Sycophantic 3. Duct taped and raped 4. Enslaved to my wrath 5. Displayed decay 6. Perversions of innocence 7. In sickness intertwined 8. Libertine atonement 9. Pistolwhipped 10. Holy pedophile Yeah. I really enjoyed this. I guess it was interesting looking at the lyrics, and it did prove that, despite the music which I really didn't like very much (ya think?) and the completely indecipherable vocals, there was some decent songwriting on this album. Lyrics that were not so much close to the bone as cutting right through it, they did nevertheless at times reveal some thought and even some introspection on the part of the songwriter, who I think is Rich Lipscomb. But I found it virtually impossible to enjoy the music, being completely unable to make out the vocals and, in addition, realising what they were singing about. It was all just a little bit too much like creepy voyeurism. Although I must admit it was kinda fun... Oh well, they're gone now and I need worry about them no more. One more edition of this to go before we close Metal Month II: let's hope I have better luck next week than I've been having so far throughout this month! You know, even though the lyrics were really --- and I mean really -- X-rated, on some level they were quite amusing. At least if I ever want to rape my sixteen-year old daughter I've got a blueprint now. Let's see... duct tape? Yep! That's all I need! Fleshgrind's almost comical approach to a really harrowing ordeal --- which I hope nobody seriously thinks I'm making light of, nor in any way condone --- earns them an extra cleaver they probably don't really deserve, but what the hell? __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018 Last edited by Trollheart; 10-21-2014 at 11:58 AM.