PEELING FLESH The G Code

As brutal slamming death metal continues to evolve as an entity outside the confines of death metal orthodoxy, Peeling Flesh comes as the epitome of a strange cross-section of hip-hop and slam. The proliferation of streetwear, grills, and samples in slam isn’t new, but this Oklahoma quintet has set out to prove one thing: “Slam is gangsta rap.”

They certainly hustle like gangstas, with over 30 tracks dropped in only three years. But the release of Slamaholics Vol. 2 became a real turning point, where Peeling Flesh dialed in their sample-laden beatdown in a way that sounded miles ahead of the crowd. In a world where rap/metal crossovers can be as awesome as Candiria, or as misguided as Vanilla Ice, these guys have carved out a niche of chromatic chugs, toilet vocals, and thuggish swagger. To that effect, The G Code essentially picks up where Slamaholics left off, with sticky grooves, choice samples, and life-ending fight riffs of the hardest order.

Before the slam police pull up, let’s establish that Peeling Flesh isn’t “true slam” by the purest standard. All of the hallmarks are there — like Damonteal Harris‘ vocals (customarily sounding like a broken dishwasher), snare drums that sound like dodge balls, and the all-mighty palm-muted power chord — but the outside influences are easy to spot.

For instance, the first breakdown of “Intro” owes a lot to old-school deathcore, and the tremolos in “Shoot 2 Kill” are a cardinal sin for the truly insufferable slamoholic. But does it really matter if the music beats ass? These guys know how to make music for physically assaulting people, and the fact it comes packed with chopped-up samples from gangsta rap legends like E-A-SKI only serves to separate them from the sea of generic chuggers. By doubling down on underground hip-hop aesthetics and musical flavors, Peeling Flesh elevates that caveman energy to booty-shaking territory.

Speaking of underground hip-hop, Peeling Flesh didn’t try to collaborate with a hot ticket artist, instead bringing a local cat DJ MRD to provide lethal scratches on “Perc 3000.” The result is what everyone wished turntablists would do with heavy music. Maybe it’s because he knows how to navigate the genre better than other DJs, but perhaps it’s also because his beats just hit different. His work on the atmospheric interlude “FULL OF LEAD” matches the dirty vibe of the slams, to the point where it begs for a full tape in this vein. More importantly, it flows perfectly into the beatdowns, blasts, and triplet flows of “SKIN BLUNT.” It just goes to show that Peeling Flesh isn’t so much trying to combine slam with rap. They simply are, and it brings both genres into uncommon regions of awesomeness.

With slam metal and beatdown hardcore crossing streams more and more often, Peeling Flesh makes sure to grab the toughest folks in the game. In the case of “Concrete Curb Enforcement,” they got Tim Louth from the UK brawlers Cold Hard Truth. It’s about as unhinged as expected, as Louth brings that pub rat swagger into the fight riffs. But, like a good hip-hop artist, Peeling Flesh doesn’t allow their collabs to overshadow their lethal delivery.

The fact you can just as easily imagine HxC tough guys crowd-killing to “Barbarianism” as you would drunk Eurotrash inexplicably doing the Macarena at Obscene Extreme should say enough. Mychal Soto and Jason Parrish write riffs for slammers of all stripes, driven by Joe Pelleter‘s impeccable grooves. Even people who hate slam have to admit this stuff is catchy. Perhaps this knack for groove explains why it blends so well with the samples and loops.

In mixtape fashion, Peeling Flesh doesn’t shy away from varying song lengths. From the one-minute “The Fuckening” to the five-minute title track, this album never loses momentum. Having Andrew LoMastro (Cerebral Incubation) bring his brand of toilet vocals to the former was a stroke of genius, as was grabbing Despised Icon‘s dynamic duo Alex and Steve for the latter. Respectively embodying pure slam and slamming deathcore, they show how versatile a band can be in this form if they know what they’re doing.

To that effect, “CREEPIN OUT THE CUT” brings the crowd-pleasing mosh parts in tandem with gravity blasts as dirty as they are tight. Does the song need Matti Way to stand? No. Does his vocal spot hit just right? As much as the ominous synths and rap cadences that land the track. This band has slam down to science and certainly know how far to push its boundaries while retaining its savage core.

“Fuck your house bitch/ this section 8” comes off about as funny as the other pre-breakdown samples (from the “N***a Turtles” dub no less), and that’s really what makes The G Code great from “INTRO” to “OUTRO.” Peeling Flesh is having fun, and it shows. This band set out to have a great time combining the hardest breaks with the hardest slams and absolutely delivered. If this is the new face of slam, the genre’s in for a much-needed face-lift.