Review Summary: If you and your homies are all 15 and bond over this album, that's pretty cool....if you're all over 33 and bond over this, maybe a welfare check is in order?
While I'll cop to the fact that my "Noise Rock" threshold pretty much yanks its chain around the Dillinger/Jesus Lizard level, I've enjoyed these audio terrorists a time or eight over the past few years, so I decided to go where no one else seemingly wants to go and tackle album number three, FLESHWORK. To prepare for this night of earlobe abuse, I first took the Wife out for some Taco Tuesday lubrication (i.e MARGARITAS) and sent her off to bed early to Netflix and Chill, because,....Hubby is about to go somewhere dark...and my guess is, she'll want no part of it. Opening track, "Heathers" proves me right, throwing around audio feces like a Foo Fighters anthem performed in the 6th Circle of Hell. Does it have hooks? Is it a pure wall of chaotic static? Well, Yes. This is smartly curated as both a twisted poetic statement and a cheese grater across the spine. Can a song be both this melodically welcoming and belligerently standoffish? I'd say here's your answer. "Gordian" follows up with some authority, dropping a massive Meshuggah/Mastodon landslide that sandwiches pummeling relentlessness between sections of weirdly alien alt-rock ambience. LETHAL stuff overall...and just weirdly unique enough to keep the brainwaves cresting over the long haul. If there's a song in 2025 that crams in more crushing Heaviness and abstract dynamics in under three minutes than "Sacrosanct", please point me in that direction. This is amped up Doom Metal that flaunts Ben Weinman-style accents and flirts with higher velocity hijinx while remaining tidy with the dirtiness of it all. Kudos!
"Innocence" keeps the Sabbathy streak alive, going pure deliberate anvil paced crud-speed, seemingly messing with the Earth's equilibrium while building towards a chaos that you knew was inevitable, yet still punches through. I may not be the ultimate authority when it comes to genius level MathGrind, but if "Black Scrawl" isn't already on the Hall of Fame ballet for that genre that I might have just made up, then maybe it's not ready for a Hall of Fame. This is INCREDIBLE stuff...perfectly stitched together yet wildly flailing dynamics that all seemingly fit like a puzzle, drummer Josh Andrews putting on an absolute CLINIC here...a breathtaking performance! "Nomad" almost feels meditative in its aggression for a spell, but then throws a pure Screamo curveball, which unfortunately woke me up from the zen of it all. Nuff said! The title track hits like a tidal wave, a slowly stuttering pulse of Ministry industrial head jabs with vintage Fear Factory riffs and the overall hypnotic effect of Killing Joke gone Black Metal or something equally awesome and disturbing! It almost feels like hearing CALCULATING INFINITY again for the first time! Ok, not really. But it's pretty gawdamn awesome regardless!
"White Noise" slightly leans Devin Townsend epic for a spell, but then really leans into the Deafheaven styled Alt/Black Metal aspect of the whole thing....not my bag. I respect the epic build and could see this being highly praised by purists...I just am not a fan of the style per se, which also permeates the finale. "Cenote" is an admirably deep musical statement, but the Blackened shrieks aren't scary....sorry. Good music exists here in spades, but it all feels overwrought and labored by the end (despite a pretty final landing). It's an unnecessary finale to a pretty fantastic overall musical statement. The truth is, despite an ending that was underwhelming, I was much more impressed by the totality of FLESHWORK than I expected to be. I can easily see this album becoming a Grower beyond my high marks here over time. This is chaos ruled by intelligence, that is ruled by inspired art, and that's pretty Gawdamn inspiring! Overall, this is TOP NOTCH Metal/Core/Noise/Math/Doom/Whatevs......just don't tell my Wife!
