Consider this the summer of the “widdly woo.” Tech-death is on a revival of sorts, and the genre’s stalwarts are taking a back seat. Beneath the Massacre is releasing an EP, and we all know how wonderful three-track albums are. All Shall Perish is floundering in line-up mix-matching. Necrophagist takes five to six years between albums and, like Canada-based Cryptopsy, are still writing new material. Meanwhile, Despised Icon called it quits in April.

Arsis’ new release helped begin this avalanche of tech death, followed by A Loathing Requiem (our review). Enter Fleshwrought (because Fleshrot was already taken, believe it or not), the mastermind behind every non-vocal aspect of the music being Animosity’s own high-octane drummer, Navene Kopperweis. Adding the appropriate vocal flair for such brutal music is Job for a Cowboy’s Jonny Davy. Suffice to say, this band’s pedigree decrees a brutal, technically impressive sound. Thankfully, the band lives up to expectations on Dementia/Dyslexia.

The album starts with a droning, mechanical, time-shifted guitar growl. Akin to the growls and grunts heard by the machines in Terminator: Salvation and the Transformer movies, it aptly bleeds into the snappy, march-like snare drum beats and matching staccato guitar chugs of the lead-off track, “Mental Illness.” Davy’s barked-growls and “only he can do that” guttural vocalizations come in and complete the ensemble. From there on, it’s a chaotic, mechanical journey into the mind of someone slowly going insane. Or at least, that’s what it feels like.

The composition here is top notch. The riffs blend well, despite the plethora of tons of meshed influences fueling the fire beneath the sound. Jonny’s vocals are always on time and on note, something he carries over from the superb vocal work he’s performed with Job for a Cowboy. Of course, with a voice as unique as his, it may be difficult for JFAC fans to stomach the environmental change.

There is such a robotic finality to the music here that I find it hard to compare to other tech-death bands. Beneath the Massacre or The Faceless are the closest examples I can get, though the aforementioned A Loathing Requiem is a much better fit for the BTM comparison. Like Beneath the Massacre, Fleshwrought’s pace is lightning fast, its technical chops tight, and its riffing machine-like. There’s hardly a moment’s relief from the pounding, written-to-sound-erratic beats and chugs and the pace seldom slows. When the pace does slow and the robotic riffing becomes more organic and technical (this includes Kopperweis’ soloing, mind), The Faceless comparison becomes more valid.

Production on the album is top-notch, which is wonderful considering its origins: Kopperweis’ personal studio. Most “side projects” don’t get this much love in the mixing and mastering. The guitar tone is very grinding and almost hollow in its robotic “ehhh” drone. It fits the style of music perfectly. The drums are snappy (as they almost always are in the genre) and don’t overpower the true, key element to the puzzle: Davy’s vocal work. I’ve always been a fan of Davy’s unique voice and was glad that those same tell-tale aspects of his voice are at work here. The vocals are loud, clear, and biting.

The only complaint I have is the last 1:44 of “Weeping Hallucinations.” A psytrance-like UFO padding synth slowly (and I mean slowly) degrades into a barely-there “bad signal” that ultimately leads into the fifth track, “Conceptual Flesh.” Yes, I get why it’s there. It’s mean to allude to the degradation of the mental state of the “person” in question for the album. It works very well, but the transition from clean, whimsical spaceship sound to annoyingly dirty “flub” effect is way, way too long. It is startling since the synth distracts the listener from the previous ten minutes of the album, softening the ears for the blow of “Conceptual Flesh,” but does it have to be so long? Oh, and speaking of long, that’s what this album isn’t. It’s around thirty minutes, give or take a few minutes.

Production and comparisons aside, Fleshwrought’s album is a must listen for tech-death fans. It has a unique place in the genre because it meshes influences but doesn’t rely on them exclusively. It’s technical, hard hitting, and grinding, just what I expected it to be. At the end of the day, one could say it’s a mix of Job for a Cowboy and technical death metal and be correct. Davy’s iconic voice and Kopperweis’ pedigree as a musician warrants that label. It’s just such a hollow label considering what the two have brought to the fold here: a great album.

4.5/5