Flub - Flub Review // The Artisan Era

It's been a good year so far for fans of Death Metal, and the year doesn't seem to be letting up. Just recently, Flub released their new, self-titled album through The Artisan Era. This is a label known for dropping some of the most prolific extreme metal out there, which means it's generally a safe bet that any album with their name on it will be pretty damn good. So, what about Flub? Well, it's time to take a deep dive into their fast paced album.

Right off the bat, this album is introduced as a quite interesting Technical Death Metal release. It kicks off with the incredibly Jazz influenced "Last Breath". The instrumentals throughout this release alternate quite often between the aforementioned jazz inspired Tech Death, straight old school Death Metal and a more Grindcore influenced sound. Bass fans should do themselves a favour and dive into "Umbra Mortis", the intro is purely bass before the track really kicks in. Once in high gear, this song really takes off. There's nothing quite like the keyboard throughout this album and that's another thing incredibly prevalent in this track. The keyboard adds so much depth to the sound and can make a track that may feel shallow, feel emotional and intense.

One of the hardest hitting songs on the album is "Rise From Your Grave", which was also the second single off the album. A lot of this track is very reminiscent of Cattle Decapitation, it has a very intense feel with bits of melody mixed in. The vocals are well spoken, but brutal. Particularly, about halfway through there's a scream that sounds like it's ripped directly from practically any of the later Cattle Decapitation albums. Without delving too far into it, "Rebirth" takes massive influence from The Faceless, particularly in the keyboard and (dare it be said) clean vocals.

If you're looking for a Tech Death album with a whole lot of heart, emotion and logic, Flub has exactly that. This may be the debut release from this supergroup, but it could very easily be assumed that the band would be at least five albums in. You owe it to yourself to check this out if you want some Death Metal with a little more feeling.

9.5/10