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Deeds of Flesh > Inbreeding the Anthropophagi > Reviews
Deeds of Flesh - Inbreeding the Anthropophagi

Technical, brutal, and challenging. - 93%

ha ha heroin, December 20th, 2020
Written based on this version: 2010, Digital, Unique Leader Records (Remastered)

Oh, man. Here we go. Deeds of Flesh stepped it up big time for this release. This album is absolutely fucking bonkers. It's a challenging and vicious assault on the senses, taunting the listener as he tries to follow along and make sense of all of the twisting and turning the riffing and tempos fly through. It's just unbelievable. This is extremely technical death metal, without any wanky noodling or solos. It's straight-to-the-point, kick-your-fucking-face technical brutal death metal. The riffing is unpredictable and invigorating, the drumming is intense, relentless, and constantly driving each song as they meander through dark corridor after dark corridor of riff and tempo. I cannot stress enough how incredibly technical this album is. You cannot—will not—be able to follow along on your first couple of listens. You do have to put in the time, but if you can do it, you're rewarded with a rich tapestry of unbelievably savage and unconventional death metal that echoes on long after the album ends.

Let's start with the vocals. Another reviewer described these vocals as generic, and I very strongly disagree with that assessment. These vocals are vicious, intense, and incredibly violent—forceful and loud. That's not to say they are too loud in the mix, because they aren't. They are just incredibly intense and very deep growls. Erik Lindmark sounds like a fucking animal, here. I mean, he really doesn't sound human. It's incredibly satisfying. We're also treated to some insanely jarring and nasty higher-pitched, somewhat raspy vocals peppered throughout the album. I'm sure a fan favorite of these will be found on "Infecting them with Falsehood:"

Bring your children, let me kill them!

Guitars. The guitars are off-the-wall crazy on this album. They practically dare you to try and keep up. You really can't, certainly not after only a handful of listens. This is some of the most incredibly technical and proficient guitar work I've ever heard, without wanking around the fret board like a douche bag. Just non-stop, ever-changing riffage and tempo changes. Unpredictable, break-neck fast, and extremely well-executing guitar work. It never, ever repeats and it never, ever—not for a moment—gets boring. If you sit down and really listen to this album (you really do need to give it your full attention) you will not believe how technically complex the guitar work is. It's unreal.

Drums. Holy fucking fuck. Holy double fucking fuck. This is THE MOST technically proficient drumming on a death metal record that wasn't recorded by Flo Mounier or Lille Gruber,. The drummer isn't just keeping time here, which is typically what one imagines drummers do. No, this drummer drives the music. He's not in the background keeping it together, he's just as much a part of the savagery on offer here as the rest of the band. We're talking vicious, neck-snapping blasts, an onslaught of double-bass and patterns that are abrupt, ever-changing, and completely unpredictable. It really doesn't ever let up. It's a pleasure to listen to the drum work as it frantically and urgently presses the music forward into a labyrinth of complex time and tempo changes.

Bass. The bass is there, and it really rounds out the low-end quite well. You do have to concentrate to hear it, but having good headphones or good speakers really does help. The bass is just as erratic as the rest of the music, but to be perfectly honest, doesn't stand out too well beyond the heft it adds to the low-end.

This is a challenging album that demands repeat listens, which in my opinion gives it a lot of extra value. One should really take the time—listen to it once for guitar work, once for the drumming, and so on. It's an album I think a lot of people overlook because it's not "catchy." But listen, dude. This is fucking death metal. It's not supposed to be catchy and safe, with 4/4 timing and verses and choruses. It's not. Take it for what it is, unbelievably technical brutal death metal, and you too can properly enjoy this absolute gem of an album. 93%

Even the cover looks like a snuff film - 95%

igglyjubbo, October 31st, 2016

Is the unused soundtrack for The Hills Have Eyes? A guttural murder-fest discarded from the final release because it out-shined the actual film? I'm joking, but this is the atmosphere Inbreeding the Anthropophagi conjures, that of a seedy snuff film distributed and venerated by a legion of underground pervs, jerking off to every viewing with as much delight as their first wank.

Yes, this album is that good.

The vocals explode forth with urgency. A diabolical growl emanating from a demon knee deep in a mixture of sewage and gore, spouting verses about murder, cannibalism and all the other niceties prevalent in death metal lyrics. A second vocalist also adds raspy, frantic screams into the mix on sections where they fit perfectly into the mix.

The guitar work is impressive. Technical and most importantly unique, the riffs take no prisoners in their merciless onslaught. While they will warrant comparisons with the almighty Suffocation, I feel they're wholly in a category of their own. Catchy, evil, and sickly, the riffs transport you to the cave on the cover, surrounded by cannibals chowing down on some freshly grilled human.

The drums are also impressive in their technicality, catchiness and uniqueness. The beats and fills compliment the vocals and riffs in a satisfying way, and help shape the album into the gem it is. The double bass rumbles on unimpeded, and the cymbals crash out with a lovely perverse sound. The snare bashes away throughout the album like a maniac on the loose.

Overall, this album kicks many kinds of ass. I feel I can't accurately articulate exactly how awesome this album is, and I wholeheartedly recommend any fan of death metal to CHECK THIS SHIT OUT!

Deeds Steps up the Technicality - 68%

BroodleBrain, March 21st, 2010

This is the second full length from Californian brutal death legends Deeds of Flesh. Their first full length as well as their debut EP were straight ahead brutal death with run of the mill breakdowns and blast beats. I enjoyed both of those releases as they mixed Dying Fetus and Suffocation together, simplified them, and then threw in that west coast mentality. You could also hear Eric Lindmark laying the foundation in his riffing style for the future of this band.

So two years later in 1998, Deeds released this album without original drummer Joey Heaslet. They instead recruited Brad Palmer who had some serious chops behind the kit. Only problem was he didn’t know how to apply his skills too the music. Too many times the snare work sounds out of place with the pacing of the music. His cymbal work is sporadic and doesn’t contain the flow of legendary drummers such as Flo Mournier or Mike Heller. In the end he doesn’t seem to drum to the music in a few sections and it really brings the quality of the album down a bit.

On the guitar side, Eric Lindmark stepped his game up a whole lot. The same riffing style found in the EP and “Trading Pieces”, is here but like ten times more technical. Riffs flow in and out and they leave the listener flattened. This is a serious riff assault, and definitely inspired future bands like Psycroptic and Spawn of Possession in this department. No doubt it would have the diehard Deeds fan from the first two releases a little overwhelmed. All in all I like the direction of the riffing, however some songwriting doesn’t make sense. I don’t like how the first song is like one and a half minutes. It starts up and ends right away with no discernable and memorable riffs. For the most part the songwriting is good with plenty of memorable riffs found after track one. Standout tracks here are ‘Feeding Time”, Infecting them with Falsehood” “Ritual of Battle” and the last track “Gradually Melted”

In my opinion, if you are new to Deeds of Flesh, their first EP and two full lengths can be skipped without missing too much besides Eric’s riffing style. Later releases such as “Path of the Weakening”, “Mark of the Legion” and “Reduced to Ashes” are the pinnacle of this band. The band started off almost too simple, then went too technical. Their middle discography starting with “Path of the Weakening” is the perfect match of brutality and technicality.

I don't see it. - 75%

Evangelion2014, October 7th, 2009

Somtimes I really don't understand the praise this band gets from the death metal community... or maybe i do. It's popular because its more or less a complete package of brutal death by the numbers, nothing here is out of the ordinary and everything is a cliche. Being one of the most well known and most influential bands in brutal death, Deeds of Flesh have carved out a name inside of the band itself and through their own unique leader label in the death metal scene. Their is home to several very talented and memorable brutal and technical death metal bands such as Severed Savior (formerly), Beheaded(Mlt) and Inherit Disease. Why then, is the flagship band of the label so generic? Maybe they use up all their energy running their label? No, that can't be it because when this was first released it was on Repulse Records. By no means is this a bad band or bad album, on the contrary its a solid slab of brutal death metal, but they don't deserve a string of 95%+ ratings for this. I won't do a track by track review of this, because frankly, all the tracks on this album blend together because although they are all extremely chaotic, they use the exact same KIND of chaos for every song, and this manifests in both the songwriting and the individual efforts form the band members itself.


Guitars - The first good move Deeds made on the guitar's part was to adopt a reasonable level of both tuning and distortion. There's no effort made here to force brutality by detuning and distorting the riffs into a sloppy mess. The Guitar is fast and vicious, changing tempo rapidly and challenging the listener to follow along. Unfortunately, all the riffs fall under three basic flavors: sharp staccato runs quickly changing pace, mid to high range tremelo picked held notes, and slow "crushing" sections. No solos come into play, and the tempo never tends to either a very high speed or a slow slam speed. None of the riffs really stick to my head, because they are all essentially the same three types of riffs played on different ends of the scale. The tempo changes and lightning fast staccatos are technically impressive, but none of them really grab you by the balls and force you to bang your head or step back from the speaker's in awe of a crushing auditory assault. There is little apparent passion or ferocity outside of a standard "brutal" ascetic. - 85%


Vocals - It really seems like they just went to craigslist and posted an ad saying 'looking for generic death metal vocalist'. He even is a bald white dude who is always glaring at the camera simmering with uniform anger. This guy is about as cookie cutter as they come; he sports a midrange growl that goes between moderately quick grunted words and sustained growls. There is also a second vocalist who does high growls, but most of the time he blends into the rest of the music, except for a memorable sing-along part of "Bring your children... LET ME KILL THEM" in "Infecting them with Falsehood". There are also a few samples used here and there, including the obligatory horror movie clip in "End of All" and some rushing water and house fly sound effects. It really just seems like the vocalists are going through the motions. The lyrics are apparently about a family who traps travelers in a cave to eat them, but I didn't find myself caring that much because the weren't carried out with much conviction. - 70%


Bass - Bass? What bass? This is generic brutal death! The bass player can't be heard, not even a few strums here or there during a slow section or a few slap parts. He can't negatively effect the album, but he certainly doesn't help either. -60%


Drums - We're treated to a very precise drummer, able to keep up perfect time with the technical riffs, though most of the time he's just using straight blastbeats or double bass with a side of cymbalwork. He also throws in some generic fills during the slower parts, but nothing is really out of the ordinary here either, as there seems to be little intensity to him seemingly blasting away like a robot. - 83%


So what do we have here? A talented, technical but ultimately tame, generic and forgettable album that failed to hold my full attention for a mere half hour. Buy it if you're a fan of the genre, or if you are in dire need of a suffocation clone. It's not the worst out there (its actually quite good compared to most of it's ilk flooding the market), and it's an entertaining little LP, but its' not the masterpiece that it's hyped to be. Go grab "Mark of the Legion" if you want Deeds of Flesh's best work.

Final Score: C
Guitar - 85%
Vocals - 70%
Bass - 60%
Drums - 83%

Convoluted Intensity - 94%

super_bum, May 31st, 2007

Upon first listening to “Inbreeding the Anthropophagi”, it may appear to be nothing more than a mish-mash of incomplete riffs and poorly edited song arrangements. Then again, any normal bloke that has never heard death metal band before will be certain that it is “just noise”. Therefore, the wise course of action for any enlightened metal head is to continue giving the album repeated listens until things become clearer. So let it be known that when things do clear up, the men of Deeds of Flesh have crafted an extraordinary work of art; head and shoulders above many a so called “brutal death metal band”.

The first aspect that will strike the listener as interesting is the proficient musician ship. The drummer provides one hell of a blistering rhythm section. He is able to handle complex blasting patterns and syncopated beats with relative ease. Not only that, he has the capability to switch between different rhythms in an instant, all while throwing in a neat fill every now and then. The guitar work is equally fascinating. The riffs on display range from razor sharp and ultra precise to blunt and hammer smashing. Each riff carries a strange aura that is equal parts morbidly disgusting and disturbingly urgent. Just imagine a hideous beast whose presence emanates a foul, stomach turning stench, and whose dismal sight is surely to provoke severe vomiting, or else, violent seizure. That is what the riffs would appear like if they were ever to take tangible form. The guttural roars delivered by the vocalist is what this monstrosity would sound like if it ever decided to speak.

The most important deed the gentlemen of Deeds of Flesh have accomplished is putting together some of the most bizarre and engaging song arrangements known to mankind. They are extremely convoluted and entirely unpredictable. It is impossible to be certain what direction the band will take next. Yet, despite the overwhelmingly chaotic style of songwriting, or perhaps because of it, it never strays too far from the central core of each song. Each song retains an elastic quality to allow the free-from idea of composition, and yet, the songs remain wholly unified. Not just within each individual son, but the album as a whole as well. Each song combines to complete and animate the monstrous beast of death metal that will surely devour everything in its path.

“Inbreeding the Anthropophagi” is a glorious deed if there ever was one. Everything from the musicianship to the songwriting is top notch. The only conceivable weakness lies in its inaccessibility. Of course, Who in the right mind would consider that a flaw anyway? The gentlemen of Deeds of Flesh don’t waste their time with processed hooks or catchy riffs. Instead, they opt to go straight for the throat and severe the jugular with sheer convoluted intensity. Endless hours of exploration and discovery await the patient listener, and rest assured, it is a golden unearthing.

On a random side note: The lyrics to Ritual of Battle are totally awesome. Consuming your enemies after claiming victory from them in battle has to be the most awesome deed anyone can do.

A Pinnacle of Brutal Death Metal. - 99%

Tiermenschen, June 21st, 2006

This album is awesome. Upon the first listen, you can't help but be Blasted away completely by the amazing "End of All". Why this band isn't in the archives as Technical Brutal Death Metal we may never know. End of All blasts you away with constant progression and crazy guitars. The Bass is awesome here too, and while perfect time is not kept, it is held together by the bizzarely syncopated drums.

One would hope for this to be an indicator for the rest of the album, and this is tru for the most part. The next song "Feeding Time" hooks you at the start with it's traditional Brutal intro, before you get immersed in a fairly moderate song. Not a standout, but excellent none the less.

Then comes the bizarre voice clip at the start of "Inbreeding the Anthropophagi", before it attacks you with excellent progression and mistiming. This song is definitely a standout. When the song breaks down, the vocals change, and though these vocals are a bit weird and faltering, it strangely suits the music behind it.

The pinnacle of this album is "Infecting them with Falsehood", with it's awesome hooks and excellent vocals. This is a song that will stick in your head for hours after listening to it.

After this the album falters a bit, with the next three songs descending into a bit of an indefinable mass of mediocre brutal death metal, that, while good, isn't groundbreaking or standoutish.

You then are presented with the redone "Gradually Melted", which brings the album up as to end with a bang. This song has a catchy start and a brilliant sound sample at the end.

These guys are as technical as all Fuck, and the only reasons this album doesn't get a perfect 100 is the production for the guitars is a little muddy, and the lyrics are a bit immature at times. However that doesn't stop this being the best death metal album this side of Disavowed. Great backing vocals by the Disgorge vocalist as well.