FLESHROT is an American Death Metal band from Lubbock, Texas. They officially joined forces in 2019 and released a few mini-releases receiving some positive acclaim. "Unburied Corpse," released via Me Saco Un Ojo Records and Desert Wastelands in Europe and the US, respectively, becomes their first long-play. What awaits you is an OSDM record for fans of bands such as CARCASS, OBITUARY, and the list goes on.

I noticed two pleasant things about this record immediately after finishing my first listen. First, FLESHROT knows their Death Metal and has good taste in riffs and sound crafting. They managed to assemble a well-put record with an acceptable amount of genre-worshipping without falling into the trap of copying someone particular. FLESHROT is decent at classic Death Metal passages and quite good at brutal and juicy Slamming Death Metal. It's sludgy, cacophonic, and surprisingly, quite atmospheric. Not the most popular tag in this spectrum of Metal music, some would argue.

There are great moments where guitars play these eerie reverberated tremolos or pull a string with a sound akin to a rising siren signal. Not that it's a ground-breaking experience of any sort, but it's better than just another dull Slamming band without particular personality. Such moments are very few, though; the rest mainly falls into "enjoyable but bland." It barely helps FLESHROT to build much of a personality of their own, at least within the framework of this particular record. Death Metal is going through a recession, and the competition is pretty tough. Young bands should consider adding more personality to their sound, and FLESHROT is not quite there yet. It has its moments, but there are better records in this genre to listen to. It's a highly flat record that generally excels at everything just enough but has no noticeable advantages. There's no psychedelic craziness of ASTRAL TOMB, no chaotic melodic unpredictability of ARTIFICIAL BRAIN. I'm not saying FLESHROT should sound like one of these bands, but rather suggesting that to think of something that would make their music more recognizable and unique.

Another good thing about this record is its length. It's a perfect "let's do it again" record that does not overstay its welcome, like a good meal that doesn't stuff you up like a holiday turkey and leaves you a little hungry. However, it only settles down in your stomach right after comfortably. The sound in the album is good, too. It's sludgy, and very muddy. This is something to highlight on this record that gives it some unique charm.

I had my share of fun with it as I listened to "Unburied Corpse" two times in a row with pleasure. However, I don't feel any urge to return to it. It manages to avoid many problems peculiar to young bands' debut records but still does not reach that headliner material stage at this point. Still, high competition benefits the best, so I wish FLESHROT good luck and will be waiting for their next record.