For all of social media's many annoyances (or social evil as a friend calls it) whether that would be scantily clad models extracting money from desperately lonely saps, opinionated self-appointed experts and of course so-called reality TV 'stars' and their never-ending barrage of frankly tedious and vacuous updates, it does have its uses. One of these includes an exposure to new music, case in point Prophet & Flesh, a German outfit (located somewhere between Frankfurt and Cologne) formed around the dawn of the pandemic.
Primarily a duo consisting of André Schmidt (Guitar/Bass/Vocals) and Christian Dräger (Drums/Backing Vocals), they have since expanded to a full live band that includes Chris Noll (bass) and Youssef Saleh (guitar). I recall enjoying and even purchasing a copy of their debut demo tape Absolute Vertical Impact, therefore when Clean Sheets was founded, they were one of the bands I was keen to cover and hey presto, here we are with my review of second demo Total Dysfunctional Interest. I have it on good authority that a full-length album is the can so once a label is sourced and its released then I'll definitely be up for writing about that too. So, labels, start pulling your fingers out and sign these guys up already why don't ya?
I've never encountered a band yet that likes to be categorized and Prophet & Flesh are no exception, curiously describing their sound as End Time Rock, though clues are provided with some of the album's tags on the related Bandcamp page, 'Doom Punk', 'Hard Rock' and 'Post Punk'. Well that's me sold and I hope all you good people reading this are too.
'Vitreous' according to the dictionary definition is described as glass like in appearance or physical properties. Contrastingly the track feels a little more opaque, with lots of cool stop-start Post-Hardcore style riffing (think classic 90's outfits such as Helmet and Orange 9MM) alternated rather brilliantly with a dirty Black Metal sound, especially with some of the gruffer Vocals. A fantastic start. From there 'Sublime Forgiveness' gives one a Death n' Roll vibe not totally dissimilar to Entombed when they were first starting to pioneer that genre around the time of Wolverine Blues. There are some delicious melodies present here as well as an undeniable catchiness that make the track such a joy to listen to.
'Blurred Self (Blind As You Are)' by comparison has a far more subdued and melancholic quality that appears to drink from the gloomy well of Post Black Metal, Goth Rock and aforementioned Post-Punk, which is a space occupied by the likes of Light of the Morning Star or even for that matter any of the bands from French label Debemur Morti Productions (hint hint guys). As a fan of those genres and overall sound I was always going to be attracted by what the band had on offer here. Sublime. Finally, 'Come Like A Liger' has a classiness and sassiness a little reminiscent of late period Siouxsie and the Banshees, especially thematically seeing as Siouxsie had/has a love for all things feline. Throw in a little Type O Negative bombast and latter period Paradise Lost and you have in totality what is a pretty solid concluding track.
At the end of the day this is a demo, so inevitably it was going to be a little rough around the edges. However that shouldn't detract from what is an abundance of promise and should the band also release a physical version (as they did with the predecessor), I'll probably end up picking up a copy.
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