At the very end of summer 2023, more or less out of the blue, came Flesher. A new Death Metal band from the USA that doesn’t only play an obvious tribute to the Death Metal gods of their home country, but also to the full Death Metal aesthetics. The ‘Tales Of Grotesque Demise’ LP is a near-perfect execution of all that early 90’s Death Metal stood for, including an awesome piece by Ed Repka on the cover jacket. But one of the main things that made Flesher stand out for is that their old-schoolism is moulded into a slightly updated (not modern) sound, making the album a massive and gory fist in the teeth. Guitarist and vocalist Paul Breece stopped by to answer a few short questions before getting out on tour with Exhumed…
Hi Paul, thank you for accepting my interview request and taking the time to answer these questions. ‘Tales Of Grotesque Demise’ has been out for about half a year now, a good time to reflect on these past few months. How do you look back to the time of creating the album and its aftermath?
The past six months have been awesome. We were really happy at how well the album was received. Of course it didn’t suit everyone, but a lot of people connected with it and it got mostly favourable reviews. We wrote the full album shortly after the demo. Being a new band, we had so many ideas and the album came to us very easily and fluently.
For starters, when diving into the album, in my review for ‘Tales Of Grotesque Demise’ I wrote that to me the album sounds both authentically Old School as well as “modern day heavy”, is that a statement you can relate to?
I definitely relate to this! This album was super influenced by early 90’s death metal like Obituary, Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse, etc. Specifically, that era for those bands, but with a little more modern tones and production. We tried to be careful not to over produce anything and I think we succeeded for the most part.
Listening to ‘Tales Of Grotesque Demise’ it might feel obvious that bands like classic Cannibal Corpse have inspired you in writing it, but now that we are talking: what would you mention as your main source of inspiration when it comes to the music of Flesher?
I think the overall sound of Flesher is definitely heavily influenced by the aforementioned bands, as far as my guitar playing in riffs, there is a lot of 90’s metal in there, especially Crowbar, Obituary and Sepultura.
I am usually not all too fond of bands that find themselves in the mid-paced tempos, as most of them end up bogging themselves down into boring snoozers of endlessly repeating riffs. Not so much the case with ‘Tales Of Grotesque Demise’; yes, there are a lot of heavy riffs, but there too is a lot of dynamics in the music. How would you define that part of your music?
Our drummer Dustin definitely helps me immensely with that. I could definitely stay in the mid zone all day, but he is really good at taking my riffs and making them a more enjoyable ride for the listener.
In my review I also mentioned that I am usually quite sceptical when it comes to bands that rush themselves into recording a full-length album without proper demoing. Needless to say, with Flesher things worked out more than just great, but, what made you decide to head straight for your debut album after a short demo that was recorded almost directly after even forming the band?
We were just really inspired to write. Flesher really came up from out of nowhere, Dustin and I have been best friends for 30 years and never done a metal band, so when we finally did, we had so many ideas and so much inspiration.
Although two out of the three tracks of the ‘Murder Sessions’-demo also eventually appeared on the album, if you would compare the two recordings with each other, what would you say is the main difference between them?
To me, the demo sounds more tightly produced than the album. The album has more of a raw feel to it and I think the drums have a more natural sound to them.
To me, obviously, one of the main things that struck me most with listening ‘Tales Of Grotesque Demise’ is the massive sound. As far as I was able to find out Wesley Heaton was involved, but to be honest, I never heard of him before, but of course the work of Dan Swanö, who signed up for the mastering, does ring more than a few bells. What was the tactic or plan of action? How did you envisage the album would sound?
Being that the riffs are so simple and we are only a three-piece, we wanted to make sure that this album sounded huge and that there wasn’t a void in our sound. I recorded multiple guitar tracks using different amps and we got what we wanted.
The cover of ‘Tales Of Grotesque Demise’ is all classic slashing gore in the right mid to late 90’s tradition, it brings back memories of times when I ordered CD’s and was bewildered by all those brutal and savage covers. My guess is that you purposefully tried to get close to the same gory aesthetics of these days? And, who doesn’t love some classic Repka, I can imagine you were stoked that he was doing your cover?
Absolutely! We were thinking of a handful of people when a friend of mine suggested Ed Repka. His artwork was on so many influential albums for us that it just seemed like a no-brainer. When we contacted him and he agreed to do the artwork we were beyond stoked. We gave him some ideas, and gave him free rein to do whatever he wanted and absolutely love what he created.
Most of the song titles also refer to the same sort of zombies and guts kind of territories, but ‘Scroll Of Thoth’ seemingly points to something a bit more meaningful as that refers to ancient Egyptian mythology. What drives and inspires you when it comes to the non-musical side of things?
Most of the songs are inspired by 80’s and 90’s horror films, including ‘Scroll of Thoth’. The whole album is an homage to the horror movies and death metal that influenced us when we were younger.
You have recently released a new song through your Bandcamp page, a song that was originally recorded by Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder 1982. Not the quite the usual suspects for a Death Metal cover. What made you choose this track and was it recorded for a specific purpose?
This was originally supposed to be for a movie soundtrack. The director wanted a heavy cover of this song, but I think we scared him, his idea of heavy greatly differs from ours. I think he was looking for more of a Disturbed kind of “heavy” and instead he got Flesher.
The debut album has been out now for about half a year, that doesn’t only make a good moment for reflection, but also for looking ahead. What can we expect from Flesher in the upcoming months of 2024 (and beyond)?
Reflecting back, it’s been a killer ride so far. We’ve played with so many awesome bands and made so many new friends. We are getting ready to go out with Exhumed, Morbikon and Skeletal Remains and I am really looking forward to that as well as more touring this year!
Well, thank you Paul, for your insight in what is going on at the Flesher-camp. I’d like to give you the opportunity to close off this interview with some final words of your own…
I would just like to thank you, and anyone who has listened to us or come out to a show, for the support!
