Fleshpress
Acid mouth strangulation
Svart Records
It's generally a prerequisite of sludgy doom metal that intros and track lead-ins run for inhuman amounts of time and Finland's Fleshpress are no exception. We're over half way through the 11-minute opener, "Glass trails", before there's any hint of something solid starting, with the initial six and a half minutes sounding off like an ethereal soundtrack to one of the Wallander movies. The track then plods along in simplistic Tool-esque mode before hitting its stride and finally breaking into a killer mid-paced fist-pounder resplendent with vocals touching on a mix of The Secret and Zao. "Copper eye" kicks off with more of a straightforward dirty black metal outlook, although the sludge base is prevalent throughout, while closer, "Oblivion persistent" adopts the sludge penchant for dragging the hell out of a tune to the point that it seems like it'll never end. It's crafted so well and with such menace, though, that it's captivating -- and devastating -- from start to finish. The few moments that drag or don't seem too inspired on this take little from the remainder of the recording. Good stuff indeed!
- John Norby
