Feast of Flesh

In some cases, song titles let you know exactly what type of music you're getting -- or, at the very least, they give you a pretty good idea. The song titles on Bone Gnawer's Feast of Flesh include "Cannibal Cookout," "Hammer to the Skull," "Hatchet Face," "The Lucky Ones Die First," and "Make You Die Slow"; in other words, Bone Gnawer favors unapologetically stereotypical death metal song titles -- specifically, the type of song titles that are plentiful in the grindcore school of death metal. But while Feast of Flesh is, in fact, death metal, it isn't grindcore per se. Bone Gnawer, a part-Swedish, part-American foursome that includes singer Kam Lee (of Massacre fame) and bassist Rogga Johansson (known for his work with Paganizer), thrive on the over-the-top horror/gore imagery that grindcore favorites like Cannibal Corpse and Carcass are known for. But musically, Bone Gnawer offer a death metal/thrash approach (with slight hints of black metal on occasion) that isn't quite as extreme as grindcore. Lee's Cookie Monster vocals are fairly easy to understand, and the tunes are -- in their brutal, vicious way -- hooky and infectious. They are also quite ironic. Like Cannibal Corpse and Carcass (or for that matter, GWAR), Bone Gnawer are big on shock value but bring so much irony to their gore-drenched lyrics that they end up sounding campy and goofy rather than genuinely disturbing. This 2009 release is an exercise in dark humor, which has always been a primary ingredient of this type of death metal. Feast of Flesh is hardly groundbreaking by 2009 standards, but it is still an entertaining listen if one has a taste for goofy horror-themed death metal. ~ Alex Henderson