Now this is what I am talking about; extreme metal with balls, busting out brutal riffs, grinding screams and churning guts galore. I’m talking about Meat Train, a band that takes the relentless aggression of Carcass and Mortician and adds a dash of early Entombed to create an uncompromising sound of brutality. What I find intriguing about this band is how they source such topics like cannibalism, religion and even find inspiration from the words of horror author Clive Barker to create a worldview of sadistic nihilism.
Flesh Made Man is an appropriate title for an album containing heaping amounts of death/thrash/grind, allowing this U.K. based entity a chance to thrive in the extreme metal underground. The music is raw, intense and effectively creates a palette of chaotic noise that never lets up from start to finish. A good example of this can be found on the track “Wasteland,” blasting your ears off right away and then descending into total depravity on the next track “Meat Train” that references Clive Barker’s short story The Midnight Meat Train.
This is just for starters though, as “Torn Apart” dips into the true story of cannibal Armin Mewiews who found his victim from the internet and then proceeded to eat him with the poor sap’s consent. This is definitely grisly material to be drawing inspiration from, but this is the point behind the musical extremity of the Meat Train. Surprisingly, the album is consistent throughout, keeping on message with short numbers that go for the throat. Even the closing track, “Closer” attempts to cover the industrial tomes of NIN and pulls it off successfully with an interesting take on the song.
Meat Train is definitely proving their mettle in gory spades, bringing the true defiance of the extreme metal underground to a wider audience. With the help of Contagion Records, the band should find the exposure they need and I know this is just for starters. Flesh Made Man is a worthy debut, so if you like grindcore, death and thrash grounded together in this type of meaty blend then this is probably for you.
Kenneth Gallant, Editor HMS
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