Bone Gnawer - Feast of Flesh

July 22, 2009

Reviewer: J. A. Burt

Bone Gnawer is yet another side project by the unbelievably prolific Rogga Johansson, primarily of Swedish Death Metal crew Ribspreader.  This time around, Rogga has teamed up with legendary Death Metal vocalist Kam Lee, and unfortunately, the resulting album Feast of Flesh is a bit less exhilarating than one would hope such a pedigreed pairing would produce.  The album is by no means poor, and is far superior to Lee’s previous output with Denial Fiend (though at times it is extremely similar), but it is substantially inferior to the work of Ribspreader and Massacre.

I had been hoping for another album full of Rogga’s intensely fuzzy guitar riffs, but alas, he’s manning the bass here, and guitar duties are handled by Ribspreader drummer Ronnie Bjornstrom.  He plays adequately, and the riffs are of the decidedly simplistic and thrashy classic Swedish and Floridian Death Metal variety.  Naglfar bassist Morgan Lie handles drums in a steadfast, straightforward manner, and Rogga’s bass is all but inaudible for the most part.

It almost pains me to say it, but a large part of the problem with Feast of Flesh is the lyrics which are beyond goofy, and at times just plain laughable.  Coupled with Kam’s diction, which renders lyrics almost completely decipherable, we’re left with ridiculous lyrics that are virtually impossible to ignore.  The trio of “Hammer to the Skull”, “The Saw is Family”, and “Hatchet Face” are the worst of the bunch.  I guess, then, that this would technically be a problem with the lyricist, and not Kam himself, but if Rogga had been growling them, we wouldn’t be nearly as aware of their absurdity.  It would also then be a Ribspreader album, which it’s not, which might in actuality, be my real problem here.  Opt instead for Rogga’s far more satisfying Revolting album “Dreadful Pleasures”.

Release Date: June, 2009
Label: Pulverised Records

TRACK LISTING

1.  Feast of Flesh
2.  Sliced and Diced
3.  Cannibal Cookout
4.  Make You Die Slowly
5.  Hammer to the Skull
6.  The Saw is Family
7.  Hatchet Face
8.  Defleshed and Skinned
9.  Anthropophagus Beast
10.  The Lucky Ones Die First

Total playing time:  34:12

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