HEAVY MUSIC HISTORY: The Flesh Prevails – Fallujah
At the tail end of the noughties, the American metal scene was helmed by Warped Tour‘s metalcore and the first wave of deathcore but in San Francisco, the city that had produced the legendary ‘Bay Area thrash’ decades prior, a special band were beginning to sow their seeds; FALLUJAH.
Following a turbulent number of early years that saw multiple lineup changes, 2011’s debut The Harvest Wombs saw the San Francisco natives explode onto the scene with their fresh approach to extreme music. Technical and elaborate riffs, monstrous brutality and subtle atmospherics instantly set FALLUJAH apart.
After an impressive debut, and with ample hype behind them, attention would focus towards the creation of their sophomore offering; The Flesh Prevails. Armed with new guitarist Brian James who replaced Rob Maramonte, the band decamped to Castle Ultimate Studios in Oakland, California to team up with producer (whose credits include ANIMOSITY, SUFFOCATION and ALL SHALL PERISH) to forge what would become their second full-length album. And it would establish FALLUJAH as a genuinely uniquely brilliant band in modern metal.
The Harvest Wombs boasted explosive technical death metal brilliance with subtle atmospherics, but with The Flesh Prevails, FALLUJAH would strike the perfect balance between blistering tech death and ethereal atmospherics. Album opener Starlit Path sets the stage in expansive excellence where the band make an immediate impression whereas the likes of Carved From Stone would strike with the force to level a building, with vocalist Alex Hofmann really showcasing his step-up from their debut. The Harvest Wombs was an incredibly strong debut, but with The Flesh Prevails, it represents a band feeling comfortable in their skin, and the resulting quality showcases the immense talent within their ranks.
Elsewhere, the title track shimmers and glistens with atmospheric calm, with its perfect positioning at the half way mark of the record allowing for a welcomed respite, before the likes of Levitation and the gorgeous atmospheric Alone With You (which bleeds seamlessly into instrumental rager Allure) ignite the second half of the record. And with the likes of Sapphire and Chemical Cave, the band strike sheer aural perfection with Sapphire‘s memorable and stunning fretwork and wild solos becoming a mainstay in their setlist, a fact that has remained to this day. In fact, there are so many phenomenal moments scattered across the album’s lean 41 minute runtime, a runtime that ebbs and flows akin to a flowing stream, it showcases a band firing on all cylinders.
Upon its release, The Flesh Prevails was met with critical acclaim from critics and fans alike. Metal Injection stated that “this album is flawless and is an absolute game-changer. It’s gorgeous and it seems like it shouldn’t be. Death metal is ugly and gross, but not these guys” whilst Metal Sucks said “it’s a new way of doing metal. It’s an unabashed, psychotic, unregulated experiment of the wanton fusion of two separate strains of noise. It succeeds via the best bits of both and creating something uniquely greater than a simple summation”.
And the band positioned maximum and immediate impact with the release window for The Flesh Prevails. The record dropped whilst the band were underway on the Summer Slaughter tour across North America, tearing up stages alongside MORBID ANGEL, THE FACELESS, DYING FETUS and THY ART IS MURDER to give crows across their homeland a first chance to hear fresh material and win their support.
The band would then close 2014 by crossing the Atlantic to tour across mainland Europe and the UK alongside DYING FETUS, GOATWHORE and MALEVOLENCE before joining metal label powerhouse Nuclear Blast the following January. In a statement about their signing, the label said “FALLUJAH is all about pushing the envelope, taking risks, and keeping an open mind; with that mentality we felt Nuclear Blast was the most obvious and logical step for a band such as ours. With our team behind us, we can’t wait to see FALLUJAH grow”. Years later, we look back at this moment and can easily conclude it was a logical step to sign a band of such calibre, but at the time in early 2015, Nuclear Blast knew what a special proposition they had on their hands and it all points to The Flesh Prevails.
Ten years after its release and The Flesh Prevails boasts an worthy legacy, one in which firmly established FALLUJAH as a genuine force within technical death metal. Gloriously atmospheric passages which dance with technical shred, and enough ferocity to knock you for six, the record still holds its own against the wave of records that followed in its wake. An impeccable jewel in technical death metal’s crown.
The Flesh Prevails was originally released on July 22nd via Unique Leader Records.
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