Before the band would become known as Fleshcrawl, one of Germany’s best and longest-running Death Metal bands, they were known as Morgöth and subsequently Suffocation. For obvious reasons, they had to change their name twice. No recordings were made under the Morgöth name, or at least not released. As Suffocation, they did release two demos, the last of which, 1991’s ‘Festering Flesh’, was released on this 10″ EP in Xtreem Music’s 10 Inches Of Deathcult series.
Although the old Suffocation material was already released on CD once back in 2016, this is the first time these recordings have been independently re-offered. And given Fleshcrawl’s status in the (German) Death Metal scene, this is definitely a justified tribute to that likeable German band.
Those who know the band a bit will not find anything new on this demo, all four songs also ended up on Fleshcrawl’s 1992 debut ‘Descend Into The Absurd’. Of course, it all sounds a bit rawer and the recordings on this 10” EP were audibly taken from a tape. The volume is uneven throughout, you can hear the hiss from the tape and also the typical undulating sound that people who used to tape trade will recognise from music that has been overdubbed a little too often. Is that a bad thing? No, on the contrary, it adds to the authentic sound that comes with demos from that particular era.
The music itself, by the way, apart from the production aspect, also sounds less ‘full’ in terms of song writing. The Death Metal is a bit more standard and does not yet really have that trademark sound that Fleshcrawl would develop later on, edging towards the classic Swedish sound. So is that a bad thing? No, not at all, on the contrary, again: this too contributes to that honest sound that characterised Death Metal from around that time.
If you have a soft spot for late 80’s and early 90’s Death Metal, this 10″ EP is highly recommended. And in the (ridiculous) absence of an official reissue of ‘Descend Into The Absurd’, we’ll have to make do with these recordings. By the way, for fans, this demo EP is also available on CD through Xtreem Music.
