This is an undeniable tribute to old school Swedish death metal, so you have probably heard a lot of these riffs and things many times before. Unwilling Flesh is a project by multi-instrumentalist Andrew D’Cagna (Brimstone Coven, Nechochwen, Infirmary) accompanied by Aaron Carey (also of Nechochwen and Infirmary) on lead guitars who make no bones about this fact, it is true homage to all the past masters with Carnage and Eucharist being cited by the PR material as a major influence.
The guitar sound for me is a Paganizer and Revel in Flesh style, old school terrifying bass but with a cleaner drum sound than some of the older recordings of this genre. It doesn’t sound clinical though, but you can tell that the recording is fresher than some of those acclaimed classics of this sub-genre. The main ingredient, the buzz-saw guitar sound is nailed. The song are often haunting and terrifying in some respects, the authenticity is certainly admirable as is the ease of the listening experience with the mix being particularly precise.
‘On the Wings of Hate’ has some great melodic guitar passages sandwiched between some pulverising rhythm guitar work, with guitar cannons set to obliteration mode, there isn’t much breathing space, but these melodic tones do their job well and augment a mix that could have been way over the top in terms of a tribute to the style, this makes it more interesting and a touch more unique to Unwilling Flesh. Other highlights include the filth rendition that is ‘At One with the Earth’ which keeps your attention through its battering nature and anyone that remembers my reviews will know that a sound like this finds its home quite easily with me! But objectively, this is pretty sharp in terms of character and overall presence.
So in short, if you are looking for old school death metal and don’t want anything too out of the box, then head for this release. It fills a gap until my brightest hope of a Dismember reunion rears its head (or not as the case may be!). ‘Between the Living and the Dead’ is a brutal expression of an acquired and essential old school death metal style played with vigour and a required level of extremity.
(8/10 Paul Maddison)
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