Unflesh Practices "Inhumation" With Macabre Delight (Early Album Stream)
Personally, I’ve always liked horror-tinged metal that goes beyond the quick, bloody, and visceral stuff, stepping into the conceptual side of horror and looking at the essence of terror using the whole album as a canvas. That pairs well with technical approaches, too, so I found Unflesh‘s melodic blackened death metal to be a vile and especially suitable conduit for such dark delights. Though initially appearing to be on the “skeletons gleefully ripping meat from victims” side of things, their upcoming album Inhumation holds layers of more realistic fear buried below that make it all the more bone-chilling. Find a comfortable coffin and listen to the album now before its Friday release:
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Inhumation balances attributes that often exist at separate poles of the metal world: here, gloom is not the enemy of momentum, and brutality is not diluted by the presence of melody. Drawing on this foundation, it dramatically weaves between atmospheric and meat-grinding passages, capturing attention and dodging any possible staleness or repetition as it shifts through death metal’s various forms. The tactical use of leads helps avoid diminishing returns on their jaw-dropping virtuosity, and they’re often backed by dual guitar tracks, one more melodic and one riffier, to keep that duality going. Inventive drumming, packing a lot more groove than normally present in this subgenre, nails down the coffin lid while providing another layer of nuance.
Wrought from massively complex structures but hinging on a powerful concept and sense of self, the heavily-technical compositions within Inhumation create a darkly beautiful and theatrical death metal sound that still rips and tears. At times, it almost seems like headbanging is a little informal for this—these are blackened waltzes for an audience of the damned.
Vocalist/guitarist Ryan Beevers comments:
Inhumation delves into the concept of desensitization and losing one’s soul or losing one’s humanity so to speak. The title itself is used in a metaphorical sense, as the actual definition of the word “Inhumation” is the action or practice of burying the dead. For album purposes, the title is used on a more spiritual and emotional level. Each track on the album is a bit of a meditation on different aspects of the primary concept. When the listener gets to the last song on the album, the totality of the album will have taken form.
I was extremely focused on binding together the riffs and lyrics to channel a certain atmosphere I had in my head initially when writing the songs. The goal was to create a more immersive listening experience. I think this goal is also reflected in how the album sounds and in the artwork. Everyone involved worked very hard on this record. We are looking forward to sharing this album with the world and to finally document the next step in the Unflesh sound with this second full-length album.
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Inhumation releases April 2nd independently through the band’s Bandcamp page.
