The United Kingdom has always been a significant force in the field of extreme metal (let alone classic metal, we all know that). Looking back in the 80s or 90s there were bands that left their mark in extreme metal music either we’re talking about Onslaught in thrash metal or Bolt Thrower in Death metal. Every band coming from that country wasn’t a band to go unnoticed or forgotten. Over the last years killer extreme metal bands have been spawned such as Anaal Nathrakh, Grave Miasma and some more. A new band founded in Taunton, Southwest is Flayed Disciple and today we will see through their debut full length “Death Hammer“.

The band starts of the album with the instrumental intro “Bring Down The Hammer” showing their love for Exodus-styled ripping riffs and thrashing tempo introducing us also to the singers really good vocals: BRING DOWN THE HAMMER in a tone reminiscent of George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher of Cannibal Corpse. Then comes in “The Westboro Massacre” starting with a great Slayer-esque riff and thrashing all the way through the song with the small addition of blastbeats and also showing some of Thurston Howe‘s top notch lead playing.

The band shows the individuals’ high level of technique by composing complex yet effective riffs and songs overall. Another example of that is “Interceptor” with it’s groovy intro riffing back to thrashing then into mid tempo paced parts fueled by some amazing solo phrasing again making it one of the best songs of the record. Moving on to “Feast In A Forest Of Impaled Bodies” which starts in a groovy headbanging way riff-wise only to go mid tempo based on some old school death metal riffage, thrashing till the 2:48 mark where we have a dark Morbid Angel-styled riff giving something extra to the song.

Exodus” continues in a more technical way grooving and blasting when possible including a kick ass breakdown around the 2 minute mark followed by another superb solo. “The Shrine Of Dahmer” kicks in with an awesome headbanging riff only to start thrashing and less grooving compared to the rest of the songs. There was also a perfomance video made for this song as well as for “The Westboro Massacre” showing the band and how they’d most probably perform live.

The next song is one of the longest on the record “Bleaching In The Sun” going through various tempos over the 6 minutes of its length: tempo riffing intro, then groovy riffage including some of the greatest solos of the record, some disharmonic chords all put so perfectly together followed by a Thrash break then ending with the song title over an amazing breakdown.

Torsofucked” is a more concert-oriented thrash song including great riffage made to move the listener’s head up and down and another great solo. “Ejaculate While Killing” is more of the same starting groovily then thrashing old school way and blasting over the chorus, making this song super dangerous for mosh pits at live shows despite its length.

We reach the final track “Pig“, an 8-minute-epic using a movie intro (there is a wide use of samples from gore/horror movies throughout their songs not only the intros) and some Exodus/Slayer-esque riffage in the beginning then switching to mid tempo for most of the song demonstrating all of the bands capabilities through soloing (Thurston Howe’s solo performance just cannot be pointed out enough), blasting and more intense riffing.

To sum things up, Flayed Disciple released a really good debut album. Consistent, technical and brutal. Death/thrash maniacs should be looking forward to listening more stuff from these British guys in the future! Well done.

Track List Line Up
01. Bring Down The Hammer (intro)
02. The Westboro Massacre
03. Interceptor
04. Feast In A Forest Of Impaled Bodies
05. Exodus
06. The Shrine Of Dahmer
07. Bleaching In The Sun
08. Torsofucked
09. Ejaculate While Killing
10. Pig
Tim “Death Chuggin” Whyte – vocals
Thurston Howe – guitars
Jon Whitfield – guitars
Paul Williams – bass
Phil Tolfree – drums