Review: FleischSchirm “SchirmHerrschaft” [Running Wild Productions]

Skulls cracked, bones spun to pieces and brain cells melted. To be perfectly honest with you, this one came as quite a surprise, despite being part of the local Running Wild Productions roster, whose releases usually don’t go unnoticed with this listener. I’ve heard snippets, some name-dropping and was taken aback by the simple fact that they hail from one of my favourite areas in my beautiful home country, but after finally sitting down with this EP and taking some time off to fully digest this raw hamburger patty, my ears were not only greeted with some of the better hardcore-influenced melodic death metal barrages this side of The Haunted (or even At the Gates, to some extent) but also with a subliminal humorous & sarcastic, yet filth-drenched atmosphere and semi-technical guitar adventures somewhat akin to later Cattle Decapitation thrown into this bustle of swirling headbuttery.

SchirmHerrschaft swirls through its 25 minute running time like a wrecking ball plowing through a bunch of cardboard houses, leaving nothing but burning ash (and scorched meatballs) behind. It’s the power of the immaculate and super-varied vocal prowess that makes this EP feel as if it’s constantly blasting away with full intensity, even when the tempo slows down. There’s this ongoing sense of urgency and chaos that leads to a pretty energizing listening session.

I’d also like to mention the impeccable drum programming. Indeed, this is one of the best examples of how modern drum machines can be tweaked to near-human levels of realism if done by an adept hand. The fat and thumpy snare does finally give it away with a slight machine gun-effect coming through after a while, but man, this is how you do it properly. No complaints about the production as a whole, it packs a suitable punch and keeps pummeling through this butchery effectively, with the tight rhythm guitars taking the forefront as they should.

I honestly don’t know if there’s some deeper meaning behind an umbrella made of raw meat (yeah, that’s what FleischSchirm basically means, if you missed my hints about meatballs & stuff thus far…) but I sure as hell like the logo/artwork idea!

So generally speaking, if you like (pretty modern and melodic) death metal riffs with some hardcore and subtle grind-leanings packed into concise, but seldom under-developed, explosive songs with expertly growled/screeched/vomited Austro-German-accented vocals spewing forth end of the world-themes indiscernible for most – right from the fiery pits of the Ländle – you’ve come to the right place, ye dirty little meat sack.

Highlights: Blutgruppe B, Blutige Erde, Leiden Schaft

https://www.facebook.com/FleischSchirm