Towers Of Flesh are an English band, formed in 2008, and creators of the 2010-album The Perpetual Paradox. Now the trio returns with the second full length, Antithetical Conjurations, which was written and recorded at the Darksound Studio with this line-up: Anil Carrier on drums and guitars (he also took care of the studio-recording duties and he writes the lyrics; you might know him from bands like Binah, Necrotize or Theoktony, amongst others), Tom Hinksman on bass and guitars (currently or formerly involved with e.g. Infernal Rot, Mindless Torture, Theoktony etc.), and vocalist Jack Welch of Funeral Throne-fame.
The six tracks on this sophomore full length last for thirty eight minutes. Antithetical Conjurations opens with the short title track, which does show this band’s core business immediately: playing technical, innovative and ultra-heavy (Black / Death) Metal. The album brings a mixture of dissonant song structures, discordant riffs, eerie and haunting ambiences, blasting eruptions, dynamic technical experiment, hammering rhythms, hypnotic and / or schizoid leads, and post-blackened atmospheres. Damn, this is both difficult to digest, and irresistible to consume! It took four years to create this album (the debut, as mentioned in the former paragraph, was released in 2010), but I do understand the reason. This is highly creative and inventive, yet at the same time well-structured and cohesive material. Each song permanently changes in structure or speed, yet without losing itself into noisy pulp or brainless exaggeration. Every tempo-change, hook, break or interaction has been built up with surgical precision and deep-rooted professionalism, not once giving the listener the chance to lose attention. And on top of it, this multi-layered aural journey has so many dimensions; even after three listens (this is the third for me right now) I do discover new levels of hidden creativity. To spice the whole a little up, Towers Of Flesh use some samples, and I just notice I didn’t mention the vocals yet. So here it is: unhuman!