Most of the time, the sampler CDs that often come with issues of magazines such as Terrorizer, Metal Hammer, or Decibel end up serving as either Frisbees or beer coasters in my home.   It’s pretty rare that I will put one of them into my CD player, although it will happen from time to time.   It’s even less likely that a track will capture my attention and make me say ‘what the fuck is this?’ for more than a minute at a time.

Flayed Disciple is one of those rare exceptions.   I caught the track “Drawn Viscera” on a recent Terrorizer compilation and thought it was pretty good.   Good enough that after a few listens, I found the Flayed Disciple MySpace page and ordered their 5-track EP to hear what else they have going on.

Flayed Disciple is a death/grind metal band from Great Britain that plays in the vein of their country mates Porkfarm, which have also become a Piledriver favorite this year.   While not quite as spastic as Porkfarm, they offer a nice combination of death metal with a bit of grind throughout the songs.   Vocalist Tim “Death Grindin’ Chuggin’” Whyte will definitely catch your attention with his low gutturals and high pitched shrieks.   The variety of the vocals is a strength, as the band is able to avoid sounding sterile and stiff.   There are some nice layers in the songwriting and the rhythms that begin some of the songs progress nicely, particularly on the title track and “Walking Dead Flesh.”

The musicianship of guitarists Jon Whitfield and Thurston Howe (no, not the guy from Gilligan’s Island), drummer Phil Tolfree, and bassist Nathan Stevens is solid.   While the guitar solos are standard fare and the track “Dead Disfigured Babies” falls into the annoying trend of raising the rhythm by a whole step, there’s not much about which to complain.  Flayed Disciple are playing some great stuff, and I’ll be looking forward to hearing more from them.   Check them out if you can.

Review byPile Driver