ALBUM REVIEW: Summoning The Putrid – Iron Flesh

If it wasn’t self-evident from the sheer number of releases already, the old school death metal revival is in full swing; you can’t go two weeks without at least one band dropping a new slab of filth-encrusted riffage. Adding to the quite literal noise are Bordeaux natives IRON FLESH and their second full-length, Summoning The Putrid which, though released last year, is now seeing a limited vinyl release through War Anthem Records.

It should go without saying that if you like BOLT THROWER, you’ll find at least something to enjoy about the throwback sound IRON FLESH peddle. Servants of Oblivion is a no-nonsense opener with a threatening air to its slow intro that quickly accelerates to a maddening speed. Not content to merely bludgeon, it lets loose with a ripping solo to close out that’s frenetic and shot through with classic heavy metal bombast. 

Purify Through Blasphemy pulls a similar stunt, the lead guitar work reminiscent of classic NWOBHM with a chug underneath that’s pure OSDM filth. What IRON FLESH do well here and on cuts like Relinquished Flesh is to balance the HM2 worship with other elements; on the former and Servants of Oblivion, it’s the NWOBHM influences. On the latter, there’s a blackened, frostbitten feel to the almost tremolo verses that’s helped along by its full-throttle blast beats. 

Taking a different tack entirely is Demonic Enn, whose dirge-like chugging is slow and purposeful, though the vocals have a decidedly more hardcore inflection to their bark. Despite this, it does feel more than a little repetitive. Thankfully not all the slower tracks are like this; Cursed Beyond Death makes a couple of interesting choices. First up is its decidedly gloomy atmosphere that’s very PARADISE LOST in their more death metal moments and the second is a decision to have the vocals occasionally adopt a low croak that’s more Dani Filth in his more subdued moments. 

Death and the Reaper’s Scythe opens with a minimalist, rumbling bass before once more going into a funerary crawl, though thankfully doesn’t spend its entire eight minutes plodding monotonously. Instead it’s perhaps the most varied song here, melding those gloomy moments with some blackened moments and more traditional heavy metal influences, especially around the six minute mark that balances the melodicism of the epic doom with the crushing heaviness of death/doom.

The major issue is that of pacing; the middle tracks are all slow dirges that robs Summoning The Putrid of the momentum built up by its promising opening salvo. It’s not until Incursion of Evil, by which time it’s one of only three songs left, that the pace picks up again. Slow songs in OSDM isn’t a problem – just look at what GATECREEPER have been doing lately, especially with their latest release. Rather, the issue is placement that means the album sags in the middle. 

Summoning The Putrid is an entertaining listen, certainly. However, despite combining the classic OSDM sound with other influences, the biggest issue IRON FLESH are likely to face is simply that there are so many other OSDM bands that there’s not quite enough here to stand out from the pack. There’s nothing wrong with Summoning The Putrid; it’s well-written and fun to listen to if you’ve been enjoying the glut of OSDM bands surfacing over the past few years. In that sense, IRON FLESH are easy to recommend to any OSDM fan. But, if you’re looking for something that not only apes the classic sound but pushes it further, you’ll be wanting to look elsewhere. 

Rating: 7/10

Summoning The Putrid is set for release April 16th via War Anthem Records.

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