With so much deathcore coming out on a regular basis, it can be hard for newer bands to stand out from the pack. Hertfordshire, UK based Dead Flesh is one of the latest to join the fray, and with three years under their belt as a band they’ve now released the Dehumanise EP. Consisting of five tracks that run for around twenty minutes, Dead Flesh hits hard and fast with dense grooves and blasting that showcase a bit more substance to the songwriting compared to some of their peers. There’s still room for them to vary the attack as they move forward, but this is a strong start that showcases just how aggressive and catchy the band can be.
One of the elements that drew me to Dehumanise was the emphasis on faster tempos and almost deathgrind attacks in between the usual chugging grooves. Where a lot of modern deathcore moves from breakdown to breakdown without much thought, Dead Flesh showcases a good mix of styles early on. “Born Into The Meat Grinder” explodes out of the gate with an extremely heavy groove with production values that allow each instrument to have some real weight, but they transition quickly over to some faster blasting and even throw in some darker melodies that give the material more of a diverse sound. “Bodies Upon Bodies” is one of the best examples of just how aggressive they can get, as they pummel the listener with faster blasting that feels a bit closer to modern Aborted but there are still some melodies that can be heard if you peel back some of the layers. Even with how loud and heavy the material is, some of the grooves are surprisingly catchy and I found particular passages stuck with me after the first times through. With that being said, even though they’re not overly reliant on breakdowns the transitions between the faster and mid-tempo sections did start to feel a bit too similar on some of the tracks and Dead Flesh has the opportunity to switch things up a bit more moving forward.
The vocals move between high and low ranges, offering up the same type of guttural growls and high shrieks that one would expect from deathcore. Given the density of the instrumentation, the production values on Dehumanise really shine as they allow the vocals to break through the noise and tower above the recording. There’s a lot of subtle variation to the performance, as both the growls and screams change over each track and there isn’t the same repetitive transition between high and low. “Born Into The Meat Grinder” is a great example, as right towards the end there are stretched out growls that sound noticeably different than the pitch at the beginning of the song. The amount of intensity in each verse really helps Dead Flesh to stand out, and if they can keep this type of aggression and variation on future recordings it’ll make a big difference.
Dead Flesh already packs a punch at this early stage, and while there is room for them to vary their attack and branch out a bit more I’ve still found myself drawn back to Dehumanise regularly. The catchiness of the grooves and the subtle melodies inject some darker atmosphere at key points, which helps to make the group’s sound just a bit less stereotypical than your breakdown happy deathcore act. I wouldn’t be surprised to see these guys with some label support in the next few years, as they’ve built a strong foundation with EP number one.
-Review by Chris Dahlberg