Scent of Flesh
ROARING DEPTHS OF INSANITY

March 2003
Released: 2002, Black Lotus Records
Rating: 4.2/5
Reviewer: Luxi Lahtinen

Let´s talk about the best Finnish Death Metal band for a moment… since Demigod´s SLUMBER OF SULLEN EYES –era, I mean. This newcomer to the Finnish extreme metal scene is called Scent of Flesh and the guys had done a couple of demos (DROWNED INTO THE DARKNESS in January 2001 – and TOWARDS ETERNAL LOST in summer 2001) before Greek Black Lotus Records signed them.



I honestly have to say that the band´s debut album really puts your body juices floating. The guys pay a lot of homage to Deicide musically; especially Deicide´s self-titled first album has obviously got like hundreds of hours on the guys´ turntables. There´s simply no doubt about that. Most of the time they try to imitate Deicide, BUT I don´t consider that as that bad thing because I personally like the first Deicide albums very much! These Deicide worshipping relentless youngsters prove to be at their best by churning out truly flesh-cutting and bone-nailing riffs and a rhythm section off which the true Satanic Grand-maestros Deicide has become so known and famous for. Even the band´s growler Niko Ahokas succeeds with his Glen Benton style of belly-bellowing either rather well or very well here and there in their songs – really delivering his vocal lines in a pleasantly convincing and determined way. Also, in the very same breath I need to say that even if, like I stated earlier, they are mostly yet heavily been possessed by this ´deicidish´ -influence in their sound, the guys occasionally ´break the picture´ by adding more melody and lighter elements into their overall very brutal and aggressive sound. That´s what makes them even special for my “cultivated” (someone obviously has a slight dose of self-irony in his voice right now…heh!) ears as far as new metal bands are concerned. It can work out that this is their excuse for not being straight copycats of the masters Deicide (if one starts pointing finger against them this!).



Seriously, Scent of Flesh can be considered as the best Finnish Death Metal outfit in today´s scene without any goddamn hesitations. I was honestly very blown away by ROARING DEPTHS OF INSANITY and I suppose the band will have the same devilish effect on any of you who have dug Deicide´s early works in the past. The songs on ROARING DEPTHS… metaphorically speaking, blow away some of Deicide´s latest albums by being catchier, having more twists and turns, and overall having this tendency to be a more entertaining package of downright deadly extreme metal songs that are almost able to crush even mountains. The songs get stuck in your mind like an acid on the flesh….or like a sticky gum in your hair – whatever you prefer…



I warmly suggest you to get familiar with them. I bet you´ll hardly regret it afterwards, I can guarantee you that my dear friend.