CARVED IN FLESH is an American Death Metal band from Lima, Ohio that formed nearly three decades ago, in 1994.  However, CARVED IN FLESH has only released one self-titled demo in 1996 and a full-length album the following year.  They split up sometime afterwards.  Despite their unfortunate disbandment, in December of last year, drummer Josh Hemenway announced a reissue of the band's debut album "As Seen Through Tears."  When CARVED IN FLESH first created the album in 1997, they had only pressed 1,000 copies and released them independently.  Fast forward about 26 years later, the band released the reissue of "As Seen Through Tears" in April of this year through Vic Records. People who have already listened to the album before its reissue won't hear anything new-except perhaps better production quality-but for first-time listeners, you will enjoy about 32 ½ minutes of heavy Death Metal concentrated into 7 tracks.

The first track of the album is titled "Sick," and it starts with a distorted audio clip of someone asking a very depressing question: "Have you ever wanted to die?" The track then basically explodes in a heavy drum fill by Josh Hemenway.  While the drumming is intensely quick, along with Hemenway's double bass pedals, some will notice the guitar riffs of Ronnie C. Boyer and lead vocalist Joe Hicks are groovier with a slow and heavy pace.  The next two tracks on the album are quite similar in style with some differences.  However, the four-man group starts to change things up on the fourth song "Reduced to Nothing," which starts off with an acoustic-like guitar paired with rhythmic taps on Josh Hemenway's hi-hat cymbal.  The strangely peaceful opening then progresses into a series of fluid double bass kicks, to bring listeners back to the reality of Death Metal.  Unlike in the first half of "As Seen Through Tears," we're gifted with a few guitar solos from either Joe Hicks or Ronnie C. Boyer.  In my opinion, this gives the second half of the band's record more a Thrash Metal undertone to enhance their Death Metal sound.

Something else fans of Carved In Flesh will notice is their lyrical themes of depression and suicide.  While most Death Metal is about more profane topics like violence or anti-Christianity, mental health is not too uncommon in the genre either.  Joe Hicks, who was also the lyricist for this album, uses a lot of figurative language and even occasional profanity to describe someone experiencing self-harm and suicidal tendencies due to depression.  His vocals are also deserving of praise.  Joe Hicks only uses growling vocals in all of the tracks, but he alternates between a low pitch and a high pitch, all the while successfully embodying the pain and anger of those suffering from mental health struggles.  For these reasons among others, "As Seen Through Tears" should also be seen as a highly relatable record.

It's a shame that Carved In Flesh is no longer creating Death Metal music, because their debut-and only-album is quite well-made.  The mixture of slow and shredding guitar riffs, frequent blast beats and drum fills, and anger-filled vocals make "As Seen Through Tears" a classic yet underrated album.  The 26-year-old album is vastly overshadowed by the works of more well-known Death Metal bands such as CANNIBAL CORPSE, MORBID ANGEL, and OBITUARY.  However, if anybody can either get a copy of the record's reissue or already has the original version, this is a great piece of old-school Death Metal.