Fleshwrought - Dementia/Dyslexia

Rating: 83%
Label: Relapse/Riot!
Producer: Navene Koperweis
Playing time:32.57
Reviewed by: Andrew Kapper

While the face of Fleshwrought might be Job For A Cowboy’s Jonny Davy, the true brains behind the band is multi-instrumentalist Navene Koperweis, who, along with impressively handling all the instruments on Dementia/Dyslexia, also produced this, their debut album.

As a former member of bands such as The Faceless and Animals as Leaders Koperweis’ love of prog tinged death metal is highly apparent throughout the album, no less with the jolting guitar riffs of opener “Mental Illness” to the highly jazz influenced leads on “Weeping Hallucinations”. In fact the guitar solos that cover the record are easily one of the high points of Dementia/Dyslexia, with Koperweis’ ability to create a ‘song within a song’ flavour to the numerous guitar instrumental sections are rare talent.

While he might be oft-maligned by the metal music press for popularising the infamous ‘pig squeal’, Davy’s vocals are impressive across the full length with a multitude of ‘urgh!’s thrown in for good measure - that being said though they’re nothing too adventurous or mind blowing. “State of Desolation” is a blast beat filled monster, but sections of extreme speed never hang around too long, as disjointed riffs are always lurking around the corner to put off the listener. Koperweis’ level of musicianship across the whole record is exceptionally impressive, with his guitar, bass and drumming skills through the roof on every song – to sum it up, the dude is pretty special, and would put most whole bands to shame with his level of talent.

Dementia/Dyslexia is a very strong album from a band whose talent may be overlooked by those put off by the fact that Jonny Davy is their vocalist. Be warned though this is not a record that you can quickly get into – it takes multiple spins before revealing all its highly complex secrets, but it is most definitely worth the effort.

1. Mental Illness

2. Inner Thoughts

3. Programming the Herds

4. Weeping Hallucinations

5. Conceptual Halluncinations

6. State of Desolation

7. Dyslexic Interlude

8. Self-Destructive Loathing

9. Relevant Intoxication

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