New album, “Advocate, Martyr And Redeemer”, out on October 25th!
Formed in 2019 and making their public debut with the Caligari-released Emissary and Vessel, The Holy Flesh are arguably among the most unsung modern black metal bands around. Too technically developed and decently recorded for the raw & primitive crowd and too weird, indefinable, and underground for the more-normcore sector, mainman Entity nevertheless has built a tidy canon for himself with The Holy Flesh.
After last year’s digital-only Herald and Adversary, The Holy Flesh collaborate with Caligari again, this time for the band’s third full-length. Titled Advocate, Martyr and Redeemer, LP#3 sees Entity hitting the height of his powers. Still atmospheric and more than a bit cosmic, The Holy Flesh as heard here creates a spellbinding display of restlessly moving but impossibly fluid songwriting. The band’s black metal still maintains a stark and stripped-down approach, but Entity goes all out with a masterful layering of riffs and leads – one distorted and clanging, the other clean and soulful, or some combination thereof (the possibilities seem endless, and so is the reverberating sound) – that entwine around each other and then coil and recoil every which way, altogether mesmerizing and more than a bit melodic. In fact, the bulk of Advocate, Martyr and Redeemer moves at an almost-sashaying downtempo, alluring the listener with a come-hither conveyance and then hiccupping that approach to leave that listener always guessing what comes next. But, let it be known that The Holy Flesh deeply penetrate with their poignant (if not off-kilter) melodicism, underlining the fact that the emotional output trumps instrumental wizardry.
For those who raise a banner for Ved Buens Ende, ’90s Fleurety, and later Deathspell Omega and Drudkh, introduce yourself to The Holy Flesh with Advocate, Martyr and Redeemer!
