The Flesh Of A New God is an odd beast. Bekor Qilish, having been a one-man operation for the 2022 debut, now has evolved into a group of musicians for the sophomore effort. Though in an unusual way: Andrea Bruzzone, being the sole force behind the debut, has opted to focus on writing the music and working on vocals for this release while session musicians handle the guitar, bass and drums. Right away this sounds like something that should not work but it somehow sounds cohesive and tight like a band should. Furthermore, the content on The Flesh Of A New God is restless, always moving despite its cohesively grounded backbone in Dissonant Death Metal and Black Metal. The songs cycle through ideas like Blackened Death Metal à la Veilburner coupled with desperately hopeful synths that evoke Angelo Badalamenti (“Defaced Background”, “Unobtainable Transformations”), Jazz Fusion bits that recall their label mates Sarmat (“Unearthly Dominion”) and Afterbirth-like left-field digressions into uplifting melodies (“Unaware Gods”). But the most mind-boggling number might just be “Enshrouding Wrath”, that starts off with a menacing riff that could be lifted from Altarage, proceeds into one of the aforementioned Afterbirth sections and ends on a pondering guitar melody that comes straight out of an Opeth song. Yet this album is much more cohesive than all of these references might entail.
I have been very tired with dissonance in Death Metal, mainly how it has solidified into an overused trope in the Dissonant Death Metal genre. But Bekor Qilish aptly use dissonant flourished instead, to poke and nudge a song in some moments where it needs tension and the result is overall good. Bekor Qilish‘s second outing is consistently enjoyable, but on repeat spins it starts to strain a bit at the end. “The Flesh Of Terror” starts of strong with the guitar and synth trading dissonant blows but the song drags in its latter half when a Doom Metal section undercuts the momentum that precedes it. Likewise, the closer feels lethargic and penultimate track “Infinite Self-Reflecting Circles” has a guest saxophone appearance that feels a bit forced, because these kind of albums should have a sax moment by default now-days. The uneven ending of The Flesh Of A New God does not detract too much from my enjoyment, however, and I look forward to hearing how Bekor Qilish evolves in the future. I, Voidhanger knows how to pick ’em this year.
