Of Men and Angel’s Flesh – Ethnospheric Decay (2012)

We receive many press kits at Infernal Masquerade every week, but when you get one with a bunch of pictures of dudes doing a photo shoot in the beach, one immediately wonders what kind of sick stuff the band is into. After the initial shock, the band’s name (Of Men and Angel’s Flesh) pretty much gives it away that we are in for a rollercoaster ride of brutality and weirdness.

Delivering seven tracks of Brutal Death Metal with some Grindcore and Deathcore influences, OMAAF’s debut EP “Ethnospheric Decay” is one hell of a rookie release. Blasting away since the opener “Satellite (DyingThroughts)” the band immediately shows their riffing power and intricate songwriting skills. Filled with crushing Deathcore style growls and less-growly screams, the band’s sound is brutal and very well crafted at the same time.

The brutality continues with crushing tracks like “The Macabre Address”, “Pale Blue Dot”, and “Architecture”, all filled with crazy tempo changes and devastating drumming. The profound “I forgot to put the goddam cheese on my nachos” is probably an internal band joke, but we will let the listener get intrigued and search for this track. The album changes a bit with “Final Blood”, a track that starts in the traditional OMAAF fashion and suddenly gets all melodic and stuff, a brilliant change we might add.

Our favorite track in this release is the more mature “Babel”, a track that is somewhat different from the rest and feels more polished than a few of the earlier songs bordering at times into Technical Death Metal territories. If you like the modern incarnation of Death Metal that features pummeling riffing, crazy tempo changes, and super deep growls, look no further and buy “Ethnospheric Decay”. This band dances around the fine line between crushing modern Death Metal and run of the mill Deathcore shit, we hope they never fully cross the line and become just one of many in the future.

Release: 2012

Genre: Grindcore / Brutal Death Metal

Country: USA