Underflesh - Overcoming Gravity

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French heavy quintet UNDERFLESH returns with their new album “Overcoming Gravity” six years after their quality debut “The Sailing” back in 2013. The album is available for streaming and FREE TO DOWNLOAD on the band’s website. Unlike any other French bands that I have encountered before, this band has no touch of any symphonic elements at all. Their type of music is a straightforward dark and heavy approach, primarily anchored to harsh vocals with occasional cleans.

Their type of music is somehow comparable to that of SLIPKNOT and BREAKING BENJAMIN at the same time. They use this weird and awkward combination of heavy, dark atmosphere and emotion filled melodies. The riffs are of certain levels of heaviness and darkness, but also undeniably generic and dry. The bass is well above the mix but neither does dominate nor stay beneath the guitars – instead, it created an unpleasant duel. The drum work is also forgettable, as it seemed like Guillaume did not really like what he did. But don’t get it wrong there – his skills are unquestionable. What made it sound awful is the way he executed it. They wanted to create that sorrowful doom-ish sound but ended up sounding lifeless and barren. The shifts of pace from all out aggressive to downright emo is so uncomfortable. And the worst part? All the songs sound the same. Static, empty, lacks variety, and lacks creativity. It also didn’t help that they labeled their music as death metal.

But all of these might be the reason why they released the album independently and gives it away for free. It’s not easy to appreciate at all. We all had encountered some of those nu metal bands that utilize both harsh and clean vocals, even infusing some really emotional fragments in their songs like MUDVAYNE and SLIPKNOT. Unfortunately for UNDERFLESH, their brand of music is nowhere near any of the two.

Songwriting: 2
Originality: 7
Memorability: 2
Production: 2