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God. Sex. Death. Forget what you know about the circle of life,
about desperate urges or even about the almighty. The Flesh
have concocted a radical new religion, a combination of Theodore
Sturgeon's novel Godbody, which interpreted sexual
union as the true physical manifestation of love and communion,
and the James Tiptree, Jr. story "Love is the Plan,
the Plan is Death" which presented the drive to reproduce
as an inexorable path toward one's own undoing. The Flesh take
it further in this closing of the circle; there are no separate
physical and spiritual selves; the flesh may corrupt, but our
code? Via reproduction: Immortal with our souls thus transmuted
and transmitted. Salvation can come in many forms, (with some
representations more concrete than contemporary religious abstractions)
so put on the flesh, come down, get baptized.
So what is this all about? Even in writing, I still feel as though
I've only scratched the surface. Much has already been written
about this band's sexually infused lyrics, but don't be mistaken:
this isn't the conquestual (is that a word?) bragging and posing
of 50 Cent, this is the careening desperation of physical
drive. This is the lowest part of our brain compelling us to do
things beyond logic, our self-inflicted emotional torture, and
our brain's higher order attempts to put it in the context of
a greater framework of a horny, nihilistic, corporeal mass-god.
I'm surprised that the religious overtones (or maybe they're undertones
if no one's noticing them, but I thought they were pretty obvious)
haven't been brought more to light since they make the music's
lyrical effect so much more powerful and give it greater depth.
Coupled with the alternating church and darkwave synth organ sounds
that switch back and forth between a progressive enlightenment
and the fallen transgressive, and the call and response of
Nathan and Gabriella's vocals, this album sits on your
shoulders like the proverbial devil and angel, pulling your soul
back and forth. As usual, I'm probably reading more into this
than was originally intended, but art is replete with unintended,
secondary and tertiary meanings and symbolisms. I'm not terribly
concerned with whether the artist slyly inserted them under the
(dis)guise of mere entertainment or not, my job is simply to recognize
and make note of them through the rigor of analysis.
The mechanics of the music almost seem mundane after what I've
already written, but if they were somehow lacking, the whole thing
would fall apart. The Flesh mix darkwave, rock, punk, gangsta
rap, hip-hop, and some Bowie-esque vocals. Sounds terrible,
right? Before I even popped it into the CD player, I was thinking
of all the potential ways this would suck. But then again, great
songwriters are great songwriters regardless of genre or form.
The most notable aspect of this mixture is that all of the right
elements are in place, and none of the wrong ones; namely, the
hokey elements of the punk, rap and hip-hop genres that amount
to little more than blusterous posturing. The songs, while retaining
an overall similar vibe throughout are just different enough to
keep things interesting. Each song has at least two or three catchy
riffs, beats, choruses, lyrics or other musical tricks to keep
these songs playing on in your head long after the album has ended,
which leads me to believe that this may be the best new band of
the year. Dark, crazed and desperate, this one simply can't be
missed.
-JD
Track Listing:
1. Love Your Fate
2. Death Connection
3. The Lack
4. Sweet Defeat
5. Cuts
6. Lonely Little Hunter
7. Gallows
8. Fall To Heaven
9. Foes
10. Death Ship
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