Fleshcrawl makes it tough on me, because I love the sound they are so dearly devoted to...the chainsaw Tomas Skogsberg/Sunlight Studios sound of early Swedish death metal...and yet, how derivative can you be before a comment has to be made about the lack of innovation? Songs titles like "Written in Blood", "A Spirit Dressed In Black", "Rest In Pain", etc., etc. strike even the most undemanding death metal fans as rather blase and overfamiliar. But boy, if you love Dismember, you're gonna get a kick out of Fleshcrawl.

The band is not quite on the level of their heroes, but they truly are the next best thing. The brutally buzzing guitar sound, the alternation between fast and doomy riffs, the touches of guitar melody and the gruff, growling vocals all hail back to "Like An Everflowing Stream", "Indecent and Obscene" and also Grave's "You'll Never See". I defy anyone to listen to "Anthem of Death" or "War of the Dead" without thinking immediately of Dismember. I can jam like hell to the ghastly crushing tones of "A Spirit Dressed in Black" and "Fleshcult" with a smile on my face. Yet, what is there that is Fleshcrawl's own on "Structures of Death"? Not a damn thing I can think of.

So that's the dilemma and it's really the same for not only this CD but past Fleshcrawl releases like "Soulskinner" and "Made of Flesh". It gives lovers of brutal Swedish death metal...these guys never heard of Gothenburg, I'm sure...a satisfying fix, but the aftertaste in your brain says, gee, is there NOTHING they can do to put a little freshness in the formula?