Reviews: Deeds Of Flesh, Ego Kill Talent, Dead Posey, Absense (Reviews By Matt Bladen)

Deeds Of Flesh: Nucleus (Unique Leader)

What is it with 'tech' death bands and post-apocalyptic, science fiction, horror themes? It seems so many of them are obsessed with a terrifying future and Deeds Of Flesh are the latest band to use their laser focussed, virtuosic brand of extreme brutality to tell tales of mutating viruses, technology revolting against humans and other tropes associated with bands like Goreguts, Dying Fetus and Archspire, however Deeds Of Flesh can be considered to be pioneers of this style of music as Nucleus is the bands ninth studio record. It is a bittersweet one though as it marks the first record without guitarist/vocalist Erik Lindmark who is was also the founder of Unique Leader records, after his untimely passing. 

So Nucleus stands as an epitaph to Lindmark and also the completion of the conceptual sci-fi story that began on 2008's Of What's To Come and continued on 2013's Portals To Canaan, basing the lyrics upon the music of Lindmark, Craig Peters (guitarist), Ivan Munguia (bass) and Darren Cesca (drums) which had been written a few years before it was up to previously retired vocalist Jacoby Kingston and long time drummer Mike Hamilton to finish the story and make the guttural vocal arrangements for the intensely technical music which is at the top level in terms of performance and composition. 

Now as this album serves as a tribute to their fallen comrade there are numerous special guests that appear on the record most notably John Gallagher (Dying Fetus), George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher (Cannibal Corpse), Luc Lemay (Gorguts) and Frank Mullen (Suffocation) along with a whole host of tech death pioneers who lend their talents to this album of face melting death metal. After the loss of a key member, many other bands would fall apart, Deeds Of Flesh have come back from the brink with the closing part of a long running concept, an aggressive, mechanical death metal record well worth the seven year wait. 8/10

Ego Kill Talent: The Dance Between (BMG)

Like the recent Blood Eagle album from this year, Ego Kill Talent have opted to release their new album The Dance Between Extremes in three parts, done mainly due to Covid scuppering their touring and release plans, this is the way to maximise their exposure. This is the second EP The Dance Between and as a Ego Kill Talent virgin I didn't know what to expect but bugger me aren't they a slick modern rock act from São Paulo, Brazil! The four tracks on this EP show why the band have shared stages with bands like Foo Fighters (who they were handpicked by for support) and Queens Of The Stone Age, the former's influence comes through on Silence which draws from the Colour & The Shape era Foos as well as a bit of Biffy Clyro too. The band is made up of the Grohl-like vocals of Jonathan Dörr, with the rest of the band sharing the instrumental duties with Jean Dolabella (drums, guitar), Raphael Miranda (drums, bass), Niper Boaventura (guitar, bass), and Theo Van Der Loo (bass, guitar) giving the tracks here a huge sound, Sins And Saints displaying this the best. A cracking second part of what is shaping up to a be an anthemic modern rock album. 7/10

Dead Posey: Malfunction X Break Down (Sumerian/Position Music)

Danyell and Tony F's second EP from June this year, was reviewed on this blog and I compared them to to bands such as In This Moment and New Years Day. On the back of that EP they were supposed make their Download Festival but alas Covid scuppered those plans so they decamped back into the studio to do this EP featuring re-imagined/acoustic versions from their last EP the best of which are Holy Roller and Parasite which gain a bluesy, dark Americana sound, Tony F the strings and Danyell the soulful vocals three of the songs come their previous EP's while the final song is a Depeche Mode cover, Never Let Me Down Again which adds a collectors value to this EP. It's a stopgap, something to keep their name out there on what should have been their UK breakout. Lets see if 2021 will bring that around, for now though there's this to keep you occupied. 6/10  

Absense: XV (Self Released)

Crashing out of Athens Greece with some down-tuned groove heavy metal that takes from bands such as Meshuggah, Jinjer, The Agonist and even more death metal acts like Decapitated. Led by Nefeli's dual vocal style, where she shifts effortlessly from huge cleans and aggressive harsh roars. Take a track like Departure where the song starts out with some ambient haziness before we shift between aggression and anthemic choruses with a bouncy classic metal riff that remind me of In Flames, in fact it's possibly the proggiest song on the record adding to the standard groove/melodeath sound. XV has battery but also melody informed by the dual vocals but also the expansive guitar playing of Dimitris Sakellaris and Ilias Krassas, they augment songs like Crawl with some clean leads while Bleed To Death is driven by the powerful rhythm section of Efthimis Mallios (bass) and Nondas Chatzopoulos (drums) as well as leading the thundering breakdown on final song Once Upon A Crime. For a debut album it's a powerful statement of melodeath/groove metal. 7/10