It’s coming up on five years since Australian death metallers The Amenta’s last album. Flesh Is Heir is the follow-up to 2008’s n0n and since then, more than half of the line-up has changed, with a new vocalist, drummer and bassist in tow. A slew of EP’s releases in the interim has been the Australians’ attempt at ensuring everyone that they are strong as ever but Flesh Is Heir is their real test now.
The band’s industrial-tinged death metal can be a difficult to get into and often utilises slower, trudging guitar work to complement the mechanical Fear Factory-like drums. In fact, Fear Factory is a clear influence on the band’s sound, with the cold feel of factories and the motorised feeling production of Demanufacture all to be heard.
The band isn’t afraid to take any hints from industrial black metal either, with moments that are just that little bit more extreme, with passages reminiscent of Zyklon or even The Wretched End. The Amenta are working off a clearly defined template for this album and it’s when this becomes clearer as the album moves along, the cracks begin to emerge.
Flesh Is Heir is straightforward and straight to the point. While the band’s focus is admirable, the lack of deviation and attempts to mix things up are ultimately to their detriment. Where The Amenta’s execution and proficiency can never be faulted in the means, the ends don’t quite measure up to the same degree.
The album’s production though, remains a strong point for the band. Their multi-layered tracks are given a great deal of space to breathe, which is pivotal in allowing Flesh Is Heir’s impressive moments the time to shine bright, like the ruthlessness of ‘Disintegrate’. However a song like ‘Ego Ergo Sum’ falls into a lull of humdrum that can often hinder the album’s trajectory.
Flesh Is Air is solid, if a little underwhelming at times or even oversaturated but far from being a bore from the Australians.
6/10
Jonathan Keane