Out of every twenty albums released by Metal Blade Records, usually only one is even halfway decent. Luckily, Fleshcrawl’s As Blood Rains From The Sky… We Walk The Path Of Endless Fire, happens to be one of those rare decent releases. The album opens up with the "March Of The Dead" intro, which sounds like an excerpt from one of the Conan movies. The music is so convincing that I found myself picking up my old He-Man sword from my childhood, brandishing it like Arnold Schwartzenegger, flexing and posing with it in my hands, feeling the power of the plastic blade as I thrust it back and forth, mimicking the comic book hero, all done in my leopard skin bikini briefs, a trophy from a kill at a local public beach. The album breaks into an aural assault of hateful death-grind, with parts similar to early British grind, mixed with the hateful approach of early Swedish death metal. "Path Of Endless Fire" is a pure grinder, with music structure similar to early Napalm Death, with a high-low vocal attack similar to Deicide. "Under The Banner Of Death", continues with the blasting beats, and grinding feel, however is more closely comparable to Nembrionic. "As Blood Rains From The Sky" continues with the diversity, as the band pummels forth with the feel of American death metal, pummeling along angrily with very choppy riffing. "Embraced By Evil" chugs along with a steady, yet savage beat, with flares of Swedish death/black riffing mixed in. "The Dark Side Of My Soul" shows even more diversity, with some decent soloing/riffing, somewhat similar to that of Carcass. "Swords Of Darkness" is an Exciter cover, for those of you young enough to remember, they were one of the earliest bands to be labeled with the ‘death metal’ description. These brutal Germans pull off a rather good rendition of this song, adding their own sound to the music, which makes this lover of old school nod approvingly along with the track. "Impure Massacre Of Bloody Souls", is another American death metal influenced track, with a very thick, heavy yet straightforward assault. "Creation Of Wrath" delves back into the band’s passion for Swedish black/death metal, that’ll make any lover of aggressive Scandinavian metal thrash violently. "Graves Of The Tortured" is a mid-paced violent chugger, similar to Impaled in structure. "Feed The Demon’s Heart" is another deathgrinder that’ll make your head whip back and forth with violent fury. The bonus track is a cover of Carnage’s classic "The Day Man Lost", is basically as you would expect, an angry, energetic and hateful rendition worthy of a band of Carnage’s reputation. The band is somewhat lacking in the lyrical department, I’ve heard better lyrics than "Feed the demon’s heart - Let him take my soul. Let me feel the touch of evil - Flesh and blood so cold. Shadow of my soul - Forever stand by me. Guardian of my darkest hour decides my destiny" in children’s fairy tales, but then again they aren’t exactly playing music to move your heart, they’re playing music to break your neck, so who really gives a fuck how stupid they are? While listening to Fleshcrawl, you can draw comparisons to any of a number of bands, probably even more than the band’s I’ve mentioned, however there is one unmistakable trait that puts them above a lot of these other bands, and that is their pure raw energy. Any band who can make music which any other band would make seemingly bland, seem energetic and make you want to thrash deserves their praise, and that’s what I’m going to give them… even if they are German.

Written By: Teufel