History
Formed by Barbolla and Lipscomb in 1993, this Chicago-area death/grind
band went for the jugular with two vicious demos called Holy Pedophile
of 1993 (with some vocals from Joe Ptacek of Broken Hope) and Sorrow
Breed Hatred (Bleed On Me) of 1995. Both demos were recorded by Broken
Hope's Brian Griffin and made some waves in the underground.
The band appears on the Repulsive Assault sampler but doesn't get
signed
to Repulse. It is Pulverizer Records that bites at this time. Bassist
Ray Vazquez is introduced and things seem to be progressing until
Pulverizer goes broke.
Dave Barbolla and Vazquez are gone and the band plays shows like
Michigan Death fest, Milwaukee Metal Fest, Broken Hope, Deicide, etc.)
in Canada and the USA. The band hits Europe with Resurrected and
Coercion, plays Fuck The Commerce Festival and signs with Pavement in
late spring 1999.
Unfortunately Pavement drops Fleshgrind and a number of other bands a
year later before releasing anything.Olympic Recordings signs the band
and licenses the album to Season Of Mist a year later for European
release.
Murray joined two former Broken Hope members in the spring of 2002 to
form Earthburner. The band simultaneously loses Collado and replaces
him
with former Gorgam, Lividity, Incestuous, etc. drummer Derek Hoffman.
Fleshgrind signed a new contract with Olympic Recordings and entered
the
studio in May, 2003 to record an album called Murder Without End. The
album was released in August. It was produced by Chris Djuricic at
Studio One. Murder Without End was released in LP format by Restrain
Records.
The band was joined by drummer Jesse Kehoe formerly of Screaming
Afterbirth and Foetopsy in late 2004.
Reviews
FLESHGRIND - DESTINED FOR DEFILEMENT - PULVERIZER
Rarely has a band assaulted the senses like Fleshgrind. This is the band that would have been contracted had Germany's Waffentruppen invited bids for its official blitzkrieg anthem. Fleshgrind is fast, heavy and grinds the enemy with such swiftness that one does not know what has hit him until the ears begin to bleed. Falling in place next to Brutal Truth (though not as schizophrenic), Cryptopsy (not as technical) and its closest comparison Deranged; the American quartet grinds to heaven and hell. Having witnessed the band live, I can attest that this is the real thing; the band is possibly even faster and vocalist Rich "Tunnel Of Wind" Lipscomb even deeper live than in the studio! I occasionally wish the band had a livelier production and would just blast away for lengthier interludes, but as things stand the death/grinders are already too heavy for 99.99% of the population and will only appeal to the elite and those who seek no limits in their metal. Any Hi Fi/Speaker company would be proud to hand the band its endorsement in exchange for Fleshgrind using its equipment - it's Just that the band has yet to come across equipment which doesn't instantly turn to goo at the first sound of this grind. - Ali "The Metallian"
FLESHGRIND - THE SEEDS OF ABYSMAL TORMENT - OLYMPIC
After a longer than ideal wait, no doubt exacerbated by signing and getting dropped by Pavement, America's premiere delivery men for death metal are back with album number two featuring a line up which has seen a complete overhaul in the rhythm section. The band's debut, Destined For Defilement, was a horrific deathgrind attack whose bite was only lessened by the constrained and compressed sound. The band has gone back to the same producer again, however the sound is a little more open with more breathing room given the instruments although with the guitar sound being a little flat the results are shy of perfect I am afraid. Fear not though, the band's brutal and incessant attack on our senses is well and alive. While the musicians crush, the highlight of the Chicago quartet remains the vocals of Rich 'tunnel of wind' Lipscomb. The band has to experiment with different guitar tones and make a more concise drum sound, but overall fans of the debut or all things brutally heavy will want to own this sooner rather than later. - Ali "The Metallian"
FLESHGRIND - MURDER WITHOUT END - OLYMPIC/CENTURY MEDIA
There probably are thousands of people out there who are looking to graduate from Cannibal Corpse. Those people need to hear about Fleshgrind.
Murder Without End is the Chicago death metallers third album - appearing in the band's three-year interval mark - and, lest anyone wondered, shows the band's (yet again) overhauled lineup still tirelessly delivering the brutality. The hair might be gone from the members' heads, but Fleshgrind has not compromised a raucous iota. Instead, the four have tightened the sound even further, gotten a better sound finally and written some of their sickest lyrics yet - and those who know the band know the significance of that statement. Having said that, could that be a melody one detects on Displayed Decay? And what about the commercialism of including the demo track Holy Pedophile in 'commemoration' of the timeliness of the topic?
Murder Without End has a guitar sound akin to a deranged dental drill and the vocals of a dreadful demented demon. Holy hell, enough reading, just buy it! - Ali "The Metallian"
Interviews
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