Sleeping Village Reviews
  • REVIEWS & PREMIERES
  • ARCHIVES
    • OLDE REVIEWS
    • OLDE INTERVIEWS
    • OLDE FEATURES
    • OLDE PREMIERES
  • SUBMIT FOR REVIEW!

AFTERBIRTH - Four Dimensional Flesh (An Olde Review from the Archives)

6/7/2022

0 Comments

 
The Sleeping Village has been around for a few years now, and during that time, a lot of reviews have unceremoniously disappeared into the dark confines of our archives, destined to never see the light of the front page again. Music appreciation doesn't start and end upon release, and in that spirit, here is a review retrieved from the depths.

Picture
Written by: The Administrator

To be frank, I approached Four Dimensional Flesh with immense trepidation. Brutal death metal and/or slam aren’t exactly locales I find myself frequenting with any kind of regularity--if I pass through, it’s usually a lone track in the midst of an otherwise innocuous playlist. While the dedication to slammin’ riffs and woodpecker-on-a-hot-tin-roof percussive fills are certainly attractive bedfellows, the trademark drainpipe gutturals and resonance chamber bree-brees really ain’t this scribes cup o’ vox.

And yet here we are, plumbing the gurgling pipes with a grim sense of glee. Why? Because
 Afterbirth strives to make slam interesting. 
And it is this quality that remains Four Dimensional Flesh’s greatest strength amongst strengths

In short, this is the kind of multi-layered album that continually draws you back in not by exclusive benefit of Good Riffs, but rather a dedication to complexity and intrigue. But! Let’s not dive down that particular rabbithole yet. Too often, a so-called focus on progressive axemanship becomes an excuse to not write chonky riffs, and, when you fall on the heftier side of the death metal spectrum, you can’t really get by without the headbang factor. That’s all to say: these riffs do indeed bang with the kind of ferocious pugilism of a fighter on the cusp of a satisfyingly righteous revenge plot. There’s a taste of Cryptopsy, Unfathomable Ruination, and some healthy Vomitory aggression thrown about, and while Afterbirth do feel wholly unique, it’s worth mentioning that the brutality stands on a foundation of genuinely hard-hitting guitarwork.  

But. The true soul of Four Dimensional Flesh is, without a doubt, the expansive prog-inflected approach to composition. Much like Cynic or Artificial Brain set a standard in the creation of their respective approaches and soundscapes, Afterbirth feel remarkably fresh. This, I can’t reiterate enough. Take any track at random--say the blastbeat-ridden “Spiritually Transmitted Disease,” or the deliciously energetic “Never Ending Teeth,” or the languid “Girl in Landscape,”--and I guarantee that your initial expectations were, in the process of listening, somehow subverted. This album takes the stale approach of brutal death metal’s gory aesthetic and lifts it into the star-strewn cosmos, shedding the dry traits of genre convention with the kind of confidence that implies a complete disregard for the rules. As such, this isn’t a chaotic Dead Space brand of sci-fi--this is retrofuturism at its most polished. At risk of sparking a worldwide metalhead conflict, Afterbirth have constructed the Apollo II to Hidden History of the Human Race’s Sputnik.

Let me take a break to state the obvious, if it’s not already apparent: I really, really like this album. 

​Part of it is the off-kilter weirdness, which thrives on oddly seamless juxtapositions. There exists a definite commitment to pulling off a very tricky confluence of sounds, technical components, and genre manipulation. Take, as a single example, the stellar “Everything In Its Path,” which delivers, simultaneously, a sweeping melancholic edge and an all-consuming gallop, both writhing alongside some disgustingly top-tier fills. Part of that is the relatively unexplored aesthetic, which feeds the parts of my brain that love A. death metal and B. Ray Bradbury at the same damn time. Part of it is the shimmering production and the attention to mimicking the soaring atmosphere across all aspects of the mix.


​Perhaps most important to Afterbirth’s success is the sheer joy one experiences listening to an album that leads you through a process of grandiose exploration, rather than dumping you in the midst of familiar trappings. Just take the conclusive one-two punch of “Blackhole Kaleidoscope” and the following title track. After experiencing the album as a whole, this cinematic climax evokes astral scenery in a delightful fashion. Never before have I felt so entranced listening to brutal death metal. Never has metal of the slam-adjacent variety been so relaxing. So...compelling.

This damn thing, like unto the black hole it employs in narrative form, wields an irresistible draw. In the past few days, I’ve listened to these same 35 minutes over, and over, and over again. While Afterbirth have never been slouches, Four Dimensional Flesh is a masterful accomplishment--impressive on it’s own merits, sure, but when compared to their prior expeditions, it is exceedingly clear that Afterbirth have made one giant leap. I am genuinely giddy when imagining the potential they possess, should they attempt to shoot even further into the stars. If this is the future of death metal, consider this scribe inordinately pleased.
​

Afterbirth - Four Dimensional Flesh was released March 13th from Unique Leader Records

Afterbirth can be found:
Bandcamp
Facebook
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    WELCOME!

    We provide thoughtful reviews of music that wakes us from slumber. Written by a highfalutin peasantry.


    Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021

    Categories

    All
    Acid Rock
    Adventure
    A High Quality Death Metal Album
    Album Premiere
    Album Stream
    Alternative Rock
    Ambient
    Antifascist
    AOTY
    Atmospheric
    Atmospheric Doom
    Avant Garde
    Blackened
    Blackened Death Metal
    Blackened Doom
    Blackened Thrash
    Black Metal
    Black 'n' Roll
    Brutal Death Metal
    Cinematic
    Classic Rock
    Cover Song
    Crust
    Crust Punk
    Dark Ambient
    Deathcore
    Death Doom
    Death Metal
    Death Thrash
    Demo
    Dissonant Death Metal
    Doomgaze
    Doom Metal
    Doomviolence
    Drone
    Dungeon Synth
    Electronic
    Electronica
    EP
    Epic Metal
    Europower
    Experimental
    Extreme Metal
    Faery Synth
    Folk Metal
    Fresh Meat Friday
    From The Archives
    Goregrind
    Gothic
    Grindcore
    Groove Metal
    Grunge
    Guest Post
    Hardcore
    Hard Rock
    Harsh Noise
    Heavy Metal
    Heavy Psych
    Indie Rock
    Industrial Metal
    Instrumental
    Interview
    Jazz
    Lists 2022
    Mathcore
    Melodic Black Metal
    Melodic Metal
    Metallic Hardcore
    Metal Reviews
    Mini Reviews
    Music Video
    Noise
    NWOBHM
    NWOTHM
    Olde Reviews
    Old School Death Metal
    OSDM
    Pop Rock
    Post-hardcore
    Post Metal
    Post-metal
    Post-rock
    Power Electronics
    Power Metal
    Powerviolence
    Prog
    Progressive Death Metal
    Progressive Metal
    Progressive Rock
    Prog Rock
    Psych
    Punk
    Rap
    Raw Black Metal
    Release Day Roundup
    Retro Rock
    Retrospective Reviews
    Reviews
    Rock
    Sci-fi
    Ska
    Skate Punk
    Skramz
    Slam
    Sludge
    Soundtrack
    Speed Metal
    Split Releases
    Stoner
    Stoner Doom
    Stoner Metal
    Stoner Rock
    Stoner Thrash
    Swedeath
    Swedish Death Metal
    Symphonic Metal
    Synth
    Synthwave
    Thrash Metal
    Top 10
    Track Premiere
    Track Reviews
    Traditional Doom
    Traditional Metal
    Two Of A Perfect Pair
    USPM

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • REVIEWS & PREMIERES
  • ARCHIVES
    • OLDE REVIEWS
    • OLDE INTERVIEWS
    • OLDE FEATURES
    • OLDE PREMIERES
  • SUBMIT FOR REVIEW!