A Flourishing Scourge - A Flourishing Scourge (EN)

This is a heavy piece, that the Seattle Band A Flourishing Scourge, which was founded in 2013, throw at us with their debut. The shortest real song is about 6:30, the longest has a duration of 10 minutes. In 2015 an EP called "As Beauty Fades Away" was brought to the people.

Whoever gets involved with the album will certainly have to gasp for some air now and then. This is where the iron-hard metalfist reigns in the form of strong Death / Black Metal sounds, which are combined with strings or dissonant parts like it'd be nothing, however. The cool thing is that they are always clearly comprehensible songs, which never end in an neverending tinkering or Deathcore-bashing. For example, in the opening "Tidal Waves" the most recent Carcass come to mind, whereas the following track "To the Stench Of A Rotting Corpse" is breathing a lot of dissection. However, Sulphur Aeon, for example, is also found here.

This is just to show you what musical tension you can expect here. What one is looking for in vain, however, is the one or the other really outstanding moment. The moment you fall in love with on the first note. The band heads actually always in a very harsh direction and when the acoustic sound of the first electric guitars sound in "Vacant", it is again brutal. Even more melodic parts sound somehow "beveled", as if something is not quite round. Just listen to the middle part of "Onerous", there you can empathise with my impression very well. This is wanted for sure, but in the long run it is really exhausting. "The Hedonist" is the whole thing again without vocals. The sound is clear and underlines the music very well with its coolness.

Conclusion:
Heavy chunk probably fits the best. Boredom never comes, since the pieces are all well arranged. However, if you think that the new Meshuggah or something similar appear, be warned. Although there is already a lot of technical finesse, this is not the main aspect of the music. This should get a warm touch now and then in my eyes.

Rating: 7,5/10

Recommendation: Onerous