When you take a look at Cuttered Flesh‘s Love at First Bite cover art, you might be thinking that this is going to sound like the typical music that makes your grandma sigh in disappointment, wondering how kids these days are so damaged and rotten, how there’s no innocence anymore! That’s said by my grandma, who smoked two packs at 12 years old and was married away because the family couldn’t afford so many mouths to feed. Either way, Love at First Bite does come all the way from Karlovy Vary to take some heads, but is there more than just bone-crushing riffs here? Let’s see!
Love at First Bite will deliver the sonic battery you need, but I want to stress that there’s more to it than that. As usual, the differences are in the details, and beneath all those disgusting breakdowns and mind-bending transitions, there are elements that make the album a bit more memorable than your granny would suggest. It’s consistent to an oppressive level and balances brutality and technicality much better than your average Brutal Death band. Perhaps Benighted or Aborted‘s latest releases come as a good comparison, since both albums have no mercy on your ears and yet never become too dull.
The most memorable aspect here is Novak and Krombholz’s guitar sound. Of course, everyone in Cuttered Flesh is a machine that can play the most complicated arrangements with no effort, but what sets them apart is that heaviness and depth that I would describe as a version of Nightmarer that focuses more on speed, progressions and physicality, instead of atmosphere and repressed fury. Both are interesting in their own right. It’s just fascinating to see how even within the same style, you can get such different approaches to solving the same problem – “I’m so angry, and I need my angst to come out with as many casualties as possible!” So, if you’re more stressed out than someone with IBS in an Indian restaurant (I can make that joke, I have IBS!), this will fit your mood perfectly! But what if you’re not? What are the issues with this flesh?
Cuttered Flesh produces consistent journeys that rarely break character, let’s say. “Descent Into Torment Of Abyssal Whispers” and “Amanda” are fine examples of the band trying to do something slightly different, which I appreciate a lot. If anything, I would’ve loved having more scenarios in this autopsy, not just the body of John Doe; maybe also bring Jane Doe next time (that’s an underrated film by the way). Do you get what I mean? Maybe not, but more variation would’ve made it easier to remember each track on its own, instead of the implosion of mayhem I recall. On a sillier note, the track names, people. There’s no way I can have a casual conversation with my fellow metalheads and drop, or even remember, half of the names of these songs, but that could be the joke here, and I’m missing it.
Regardless of my absent sense of humor, I believe the album delivers what it promises, even with a few twists here and there. It’s without a doubt a wild trip into some kind of interstellar gore that your granny will do everything to forget about.
Label: Transcending Obscurity
Release date: 24 May, 2024
Website: https://cutterredfleshband.bandcamp.com/album/love-at-first-bite
Country: Czechia
Score: 3.5/5.0
Metal Eclipse Reviews 