REVIEWS - "The Conjoined" CD (page 5)

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Unbound Zine - (4 out of 5) by Mike Hochins. September 2007

The debut album from Project: Failing Flesh seemed to come out of nowhere with its heavy yet quirky approach to metal. The Conjoined had a lot to live up to and the band has really crafted a gem here.

Its hard to put into words what this band indeed sounds like. On one hand the band is very metallic with rhythmic and noisy riffs, yet on the other hand the band is very electronic in nature. Not to the point that you could call this an industrial band, but the influence is definitely there. If I had to stretch Id say cross Meshuggah, Voivod, and Mike Patton. You never know what to expect next from the band and the album is littered with some of the most interesting and head scratching noises you have ever heard.

One of the main aspects that really helps the band nail the point across is the vocal performance of Eric Forrest. His vocals are powerful and with this album quite varied. It would seem obvious that hearing Voivod in Project: Failing Flesh would be due to the band sharing vocalists, but when you get right down to it musically the band does remind me quite a bit of Voivod at times, more so when the band was in their prime though.

If the debut album had the band on the cusp of being spacey, this new album takes them right out of the stratosphere. This is a strange and beautiful album that challenges what people expect from a metal album. If you like your music creative this is definitely for you.

Born to Die - by Gnom. November 2007

+ in both English and Polish (below).

"The Conjoined" is next album of American band with pretty strange name - Project: Failing Flesh which vocalist is Eric Forrest - ex-vocalist and ex-bass player of Voivod. And maybe this is the cause, that Project: Failing Flesh represents similar climate to Voivod, although somewhat heavier and sharper. But obviously this are my subjective feelings… The eleven songs being on the disc oscillate round of Industrial Progressive Death Metal's climate. The songs are very dynamic and hard and it is underlined by specific the guitar riffs which the rhythmic is pretty difficult and diverse. The same is with the solid percussive parties which are rich in frequent changes of pace, passages and accents. These pretty difficult arrangements have features of technical and progressive Death Metal with elements of Industrial. Sometimes Black Metal or Stoner Metal as well as Ambient and alternative music sequences appear in the music. Additionally different kind of parties of keyboard and samples more seldom come to voice but the sound appear in suitable moments, ideally strengthening the mood of songs. And the whole is lead by sharp aggressive growling scream, which changes in calmer tone or recitations to music in places. The music spreads heavy and mad tune, where cold darkness with element of melancholy reigns. The material is really solid and good for recommendation!

"The Conjoined" jest kolejnym albumem amerykańskiego bandu o dość dziwnej nazwie - Project: Failing Flesh, którego wokalistą jest Eric Forrest - były wokalista i basista Voivod. I być może to spowodowało, iż Project: Failing Flesh reprezentuje podobny klimat do Voivod, aczkolwiek nieco cięższy i ostrzejszy. Ale oczywiście są to moje subiektywne odczucia… Jedenaście utworów znajdujących się na krążku oscyluje wokół Industrialno Progresywnych Death Metalowych klimatów. Kawałki są bardzo dynamiczne i ciężkie co podkreślane jest przez specyficzne gitarowe riffy, których rytmika jest miejscami dość skomplikowana i zróżnicowana, podobnie jak solidne perkusyjne partie bogate w częste zmiany tempa, przejścia i akcenty. Te dość skomplikowane aranżacje mają znamiona technicznego i progresywnego Death Metalu z elementami Industrialu. Pojedynczo pojawiają się sekwencje Black Metalu czy Stoner Metalu oraz Ambientu i muzyki alternatywnej. Dodatkowo rzadziej dochodzą do głosu różnego rodzaju partie klawiszy i sample, ale za to w odpowiednich momentach, idealnie wzmacniając nastrój utworów. A całość prowadzi ostry agresywny growlingowy wrzask, który miejscami zmienia się w spokojniejszy ton czy melodeklamacje. Muzyka rozpościera ciężki i szalony nastrój, w którym panuje zimny mrok z pierwiastkiem melancholii. Materiał jest naprawdę solidny i godny polecenia!

Neo-Zine - November 2007

This is crisp, clean, and tough as steel. The style is very rhythmic, with an industrial blueprint, lots of stop-go format, heavy on the distortion, and a mechanical/ mathematical feel. The thing that you don't expect is that they also have their slower, melodic bits, with piano pieces, classical strings, clean guitar, and beautiful interludes. Lastly, you have the scolding hot scream of the vocalist who sounds like he fell in the vat of molten metal. You put it all together and it is a pretty impressive package. It’s the unexpected pieces that really make this one go. When the keys and effects step in or there is a radical drop in the stress factor result in sweeter - more pleasant sounds. I love the schizophrenic trumpet sounds on the song "The Conjoined!" (Very acid-jazz-improv) Of course, these things wouldn't stand out at all if it wasn't for the driving - pounding - death hammer backbone of the music. Project Failing Flesh is like a psychotic super-criminal obsessed with chopping up meat and music to create unthinkable atrocities.

Corazine - by Goran. November 2007

The band's moniker might sound inspiring to some, but the term "project" is nowadays often used (in or next to bandnames) to describe a modern, eclectic or experimental approach. So far the originality fails to impress me, but the music is bound to change my attitude - at least to some extent. The first album of these guys was released by Karmageddon, and I can imagine I'd be interested as well if I had to release another band. P:FF proves to be experimental, as they mix cleanly produced metal with electronical samples and what not. Perhaps a bit reminiscent of Meshuggah in terms of rhythmic approach, and other modern metalbands might spring to mind (Fear Factory, ...). The band's songwriting is immensely creative, if I listen to complex songstructures and instrumental/vocal alternations I'm deeply impressed (e.g. "Regenerate"). Apart from the standard metal input, P:FF further experiments with odd melodies and totally unexpected instruments (a jazzy trumpet in track 4?) Very eclectic, in a postmodern and psychedelic way sometimes. People who need their metal to be straightforward and headbangable better skip this one - unless the Meshuggah-style is their cup of tea as well. Those who like a quite complex but professionally performed blend of progressive, experimental metal and almost unrelated elements, will find this pretty much inspiring.

Zware Metalen - (80 out of 100) by Joris Peterse. August 2007

Hou je niet van roest op je metal? Krijg je spontaan last van metaalmoeheid op het moment dat de volgende her-herkauwing voorbij komt van metalband deel ontelbaar die claimt 'extreme (death) metal te maken'? Dan zou ik even verder lezen, want wat ik hier voor mijn snufferd heb blaast je spontaan uit je stoel.

Project: Failing Flesh is het geesteskindje van Eric Forrest, die vroeger zijn duit in het zakje gedaan heeft bij Voivod. De driemansband is al verantwoordelijk geweest voor de release van een andere full-length cd in 2003. Helaas kon het me destijds niet echt bekoren, waarna ik het na weinig luisterbeurten al opgaf. The Conjoined is echter een heel ander verhaal, want bij de eerste luisterbeurt kun je al concluderen dat je een uniek plaatje in huis hebt. De band vuurt een elftal nummers op je af die allemaal wat eigens hebben. Zo hoor je riffs voorbijkomen waarbij je mond van verbazing open valt, samples en geluidseffecten die een sfeervol geheel kneden, heersende tempoversnellingen en verrek, ik hoor zelfs in het titelnummer een trompet voorbijkomen. Regelmatig blaast de muziek door tot bijna industriële snelheden, waardoor vergelijkingen met Fear Factory en Red Harvest makkelijk gemaakt zijn.

Ik moet echter toch wel met beide benen op de grond blijven, want het is helaas niet enkel goud wat er blinkt. Zo blijft de plaat niet de hele luistersessie even interessant, mijn interesse lijkt een beetje af te zijn gezwakt wanneer de laatste nummers voorbij komen. Desalniettemin ben ik voorlopig weer even flink wakkergeschud, want ook ik had toch aardig wat symptomen van metaalmoeheid als het op extreme- en death metal aankwam. Dit is net wat ik, en misschien heel metalland, echt even nodig had.

RISE! Metal Zine - by Jorge Patacas. issue #14. December 2007

Luego del muy buen debut, “A Beautiful Sickness”, los nortamericanos Project: Failing Flesh, quienes cuentan com Eric Forrest (ex-Voivod,E-Force) en voces, ademas de sus fundadores Tim Gutierrez y Kevin 131, vuelven en este 2007 luego de haber fimado contrato com el sello griego Burning Star Records. “The Conjoined” es el titulo de su Segundo trabajo, el cual se encarge de reafirmar su propuesta pero superando con creces a su predecessor. Si bien es inevitable que nombres como Fear Factory o Meshuggah puedan venimos a la mente al escuchar la banda, la misma se encarga de demostar que hay mucho mas que una combinacion entre el Death Metal y la Industrial. Aqui tambien aparecen elementos del Thrash, e incluso pasajes de Jazz, y por sobretodo mucha experimentacion, para comprobario basta escuchar atentamente el tema que le da titulo al album.

Hay muchas bandas que intentan combiner distintos estilos pero no todas lo hacen logrando un gran resultado, Project: Failing Flesh lo hace una ves mas de una manera notable mostrando un gran nivel de creatividad en one muy buenas composiciones que no aburren en ningun momento.

Live4Metal - by Chris Davison. January 2008

Look, every other bugger is going to be mentioning this, so I'm going to start by saying it too. This features Eric Forrest, he that used to be the throat for the legendary Voivod from Negatron through to Voivod Lives. I have an early confession to make, in that he was the definitive voice of that band for me, and yes, I know that places me in the minority, but he has such a brilliant voice that anything he does is likely to be of interest to me.

Thus it is with Project: Failing Flesh. This is a brilliant album, and I mean brilliant as in fucking brilliant. If the last couple of Voivod albums sounded to your ears like...well...utter drivel, then this could be what you have actually been waiting to hear. Discordant, and truly
futuristic, this is the sound of a world gone very, very wrong. So many bands have tried to produce a marriage of the industrial and the futuristic, and almost without exception they have all sounded fairly poor. PFF are THE sound of things to come, especially if those things involve your nuts being crushed in a vice while a grasping government sells out everything of value, including your life, to avaricious greedy corporations. Hell, this album is more cyberpunk than Blade Runner.

Eric Forrest has never sounded so completely inhuman and alienated. Whether screaming at the top of his lungs in a curiously robotic fashion, or making sounds that are like human feedback – jarring and unsettling but never the less curiously appealing, he melds perfectly with the jackhammer riffage and impressive drum work. Third track “Regenerate” brings to mind Pitchshifter, for instance, but actually sounds both heavy and extreme, while “Eve of Demise” sounds like some demented hardwired version of Black Metal filtered through layers of neon lights and illegal chemical compounds. There are so many differing influences at work between these eleven songs that the only thing holding them together is the aural motif of alienation. It really does sound like the extreme soundtrack to a cult sci-fi classic that has yet to be made. Every beep, every face-smashing riff has been perfectly honed to make you feel uneasy.

Fear Factory? Fail. This is the true sound of your life, your sterile existence of being lost in cyberspace between bouts of work and reproduction. The future is bleak. The future is project failing flesh.

Bleeding For Metal - (9 out of 10) by Opa Steve aka Stefan Machwirth. December 2007

Yeah, sie sind wieder da! Project: Failing Flesh nehmen ihren Projektcharakter offenbar sehr ernst. Anders lassen sich die 4 Jahre nach dem Debütalbum nicht erklären. Eine der besten Thrash-Stimmen, Eric Forrest (Ex-Voivod, E-Force), und seine Mitstreiter Tim Gutierrez und Kevin 131 haben wieder tief in die Kiste gegriffen, um superbrutale Amp-Sounds mit experimentellen Samplings und ungewöhnlichen Instrumenten zu verkabeln. Schon der Opener 'Final Act Of Treachery' knüppelt brutal aus den Boxen und toppt an Härtegrad so manchen Strapping Young Lad Titel. Aber P:FF wären nicht P:FF, wenn da nicht wieder sehr viele Spielereien mit ins Boot geholt werden würden, anstatt nur brachialen Lärm zu erzeugen. Und brachial ist das Album, und wie. Wobei die Stimme von Eric natürlich eine große Rolle spielt. Aber sie haben den Stil des Debüt-Albums weiter ausgebaut, um ihn homogener zu gestalten. Es wirkt noch mehr aus einem Guss, obwohl die ungewöhnlichen Experimente nicht weniger geworden sind. 'Through The Broken Lens' hat irre atmosphärische Akustik-Parts, ohne ausgewimpt zu klingen. Sample-Einsätze wie das sehr elektronische 'Regenerate' sind so konzipiert, dass sich der Song zwischendurch ansatzlos als echte Metalnummer fortführen lässt. So entstehen weniger Brüche zwischen Computer und echten Instrumenten. Auch Ausfälle wie die schiefen Geigen und Klaviere des letzten Albums gehören glücklicherweise der Vergangenheit an. Zwar wird dieses Mal eine Trompete vergewaltigt, aber dies wesentlich kunstvoller (sofern nicht auf eine sehr hochwertige Orchester-Library zurückgegriffen wurde). Mit 'Eye Of Demise' versuchen sich Project: Failing Flesh sogar noch an einer rasenden Black Metal Nummer, während 'Surface Noise' oder 'Synethesia' gern auch auf Voivods "Negatron" Platz gefunden hätten.

Schade, dass diese Truppe wirklich nur Projektcharakter hat. Gerade haben sie ihren Stil rundum perfektioniert und es wäre schön, in Zukunft regelmäßig mit experimentierfreudigem Brachial-Metal dieser Art versorgt zu werden. Interessenten sollten unbedingt ihre Homepage abchecken, denn dort werden auch die Alben, die in Deutschland nur per teurem Import zu haben sind, per PayPal-Kauf zu fairen Preisen (und aktuell geilem Dollarkurs) angeboten. Auch gibt es dort massig Material an Fotos und Videos, sowie Beiträge über tatsächlich "versagendes Fleisch", nämlich medizinische Kuriositäten, bei denen sich Tim Gutierrez makabrerweise nicht einmal ausnimmt. Und während für das letzte Album Venoms 'Warhead' gecovert wurde, gibt es von den aktuellen Sessions 'The Usurper' (Celtic Frost) als Web-Only-Variante zu hören.

Leprozy - by Fully. January 2008

Alors qu' E-Force s'apprête à sortir son second album " Modified Poison " en début d'année, l'autre projet où participe Eric Forrest, Project : Failing Flesh est lui déjà dans les bacs depuis ce printemps. Il accompagne dans ce projet deux comparses américains, le producteur Kevin 131 qui apporte sa patte du côté des expérimentations et Tim Gutierrez pour les instruments, Eric se chargeant uniquement du chant. Et quel chant ! Car ses vocaux collent parfaitement à la musique de P :FF, à savoir un thrash dans une veine plutôt classique où la petite touche expérimentale electro-indus fait mouche à chaque fois ! un vrai régal !! Avec le recul, sa sortie a été assez confidentielle par chez nous, un peu comme leur premier essai " A Beautiful Sickness " qui avait vu le jour courant 2003 chez les défunts Karmageddon Records, " The conjoined " est lui sorti sur un label grec " Burning Star ". Dommage qu'un label plus important n'ai pas posé sa truffe dessus car ce n'est pas le potentiel qui manque… D'ailleurs à part via la boutique en ligne de Burning Star ce second opus n'est sûrement pas très facile à se procurer (distribution Musea pour la France) ce qui est vraiment dommage car c'est un putain d'album, une bombe ! Sur une base thrash on retrouve une touche à la Voivod et aux relents un peu plus indus, avec des parties expérimentales vraiment excellentes ! Comme sur le titre éponyme et ses cuivres, les expérimentations sont ici plus nombreuses et prenantes, sans en faire trop. Du coup on ne décroche jamais, la base thrash bien rentre dedans étant toujours là, bien mise en valeur par une prod signée Kevin 131. Toutes les infos complémentaires via leur site web et le myspace du groupe où vous pourrez écouter quelques titres. D'ailleurs sur le site web (rubrique music) vous retrouverez en exclusivité la cover de " The usurper " du grand Celtic Frost. Horns up!!

Metalthai - (5.00 out of 6.66) by Sorn Thongprasert. January 2008

Project: Failing Flesh are Eric Forrest : vocals (ex-Voivod, E-Force), Tim Gutierrez - instruments and Kevin 131 - instruments, which was formed in 2001, they released one the full-length album that is called "A Beautiful Sickness" with Karmageddon Media in 2003 and got the good response from the audiences around the world. About 4 years later, they joined with Burning Star Records and released the great thrash experimental metal album - 'The Conjoined'!.

How can I say?, Music of The Conjoined fully with the thrash metal add with industrial, some darks, ambient, weird atmospheric, fully with weird sampler, the sound of instruments like keyboard, synth, cello and trumpets drive me crazy in this album, oh damn man! That's fuckin awesome of Experimental Thrash metal! About the voice of Eric Forrest, you guys will meet with sounds clean, scream like thrash/black metal style and guttural growl. I don't have any recommend tracks, but you guys have to listen all of this album, that's brilliant killer noise!

Turn on the volume at 10, prepare to extremely unconscious and throw of your soul into the Project: Failing Flesh's world. For fans of Thrash metal / Experimental / Industrial / Dark!

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