FOCAL DYSTONIA was formed in 2020 as an international collaboration by Dutch musicians Floor Van Kuijk (KORPSE; CARNIFLORE) and Florent Duployer (ANACHRONISM; KAKOTHANASY). It is a Brutal Death Metal band. For this full-length album, 12 different guest vocalists contributed as well as there are two guest appearances on guitar. Among the guest vocalists are for example Mallika Sundaramurthy (ABNORMALITY), Andy Tseung (SOILS OF FATE) and Jack Papp Fahlberg Kristensen (KRAANIUM.) The album was released via North Carolina label Comatose Music that has some history in Brutal Death Metal among others. The album has a length of 32 minutes.

"Descending (In)Human Flesh" is a concept album in the way that each song has a different vocalist. This concept works very well with the sound on the album. It also makes the album more interesting, especially since FOCAL DYSTONIA announced one vocalist per week prior to the release of the album. I am sure that fans of Brutal Death Metal enjoyed that maintenance of excitement. Leaving this part out of the equation and focusing on the music, "Descending (In)Human Flesh" is a "kick-into-your-face" affair from the first to the last note of the album. Starting with "Ascending Thy Abhorrent Gods," the listener gets slapped with blistering speed, flesh-ripping guitars, hammering drums, growling vocals and screams straight from hell.

There are little variations across songs, the pace is maintained throughout and song structures do not leave much room for breaks. Well, there are a few and "Subjected To Sickness" is such exception where the break towards a slightly slower tempo includes a lead guitar solo that really nicely contributes to the song. Both, "Everlasting Diabolic Seizures" and "Cognizance Of Obscurity" have a few moments where speed really slows down to enhance the darkness of the guitar riffs and the brutality of the sound. Altogether, the guitars and bass are not very technical. The drumming of Florent Duployer is relentless, it is a blast beat and double-bass festival of high quality, and more importantly, he drives the songs forward and is leading the line. Coming back to the different vocalists, it was really a challenge to distinguish them since the growls of all songs are pre-dominantly low and songs are all of very similar structure. To get a good view on what to expect, FOCAL DYSTONIA released "Pinnacle Of Deranged Euphoria" as video on YouTube and the link is given below.

"Descending (In)Human Flesh" is a 32 minutes blast of brutality, breakneck speed, crunching guitars, pummeling drums, and deafening growls. FOCAL DYSTONIA do not reinvent the wheel, they keep the wheel spinning with a clever concept in having guest vocalists for each song. This concept creates excitement and the song writing benefits from that. The album is very well produced. For fans of Brutal Death Metal, "Descending (In)Human Flesh" is surely an early Christmas gift.