“They hear you speak but they don’t wanna listen.”
Over the course of their career, Flesh Creep have pushed the limitations of what their music can be. While their earlier releases mainly focus on aggressive line delivery, Glimmer finds the band exploring new sides to their music without sacrificing the gritty and exciting elements that made their name, developing a skill in combining that aggression with politically charged lyrics. A notable example being “We will die in these chains” from “Factotum”. Across two EPs and recently released debut album We need you to bleed, the Birmingham-based band have steadily defined their punk-inspired sound, which sets up this new release to be the right step in progressing. Glimmer feels like the band has a point to prove, using their carefully picked pacing to create a story.
If opening track, “Flake”, is the first time you hear of Flesh Creep, then I’d consider you lucky. This song is the kind of defining, satisfying blend that musicians spend years chasing and perfecting. A harsh guttural-like scream lands within the first instant, accompanied by a harsh guitar riff that guides you through the message, which are factors that are just a fraction of what’s so compelling about it. Tom Patrick’s vocals are brutal and angry yet still melodic, easily digestible, and fit incredibly well. The verses carry a spoken megaphone effect, translating the band’s intentions of the song acting as a protest. The effect demonstrates the importance of the audience listening; it feels more like direct communication. Not only that, it adds texture and depth to the production and emotional content.
“Bubblegum” was dropped as a single, with it carrying a heavy drum presence immediately, with a return of the spoken tone to the lyrics during verses to give a clear focus on their message. The chorus is a strong and loud mixture of harsh tones and a confrontational urgency that gives the song its very essence. The song behaves in a way that allows for those punk-rooted characteristics to shine through the several textures.
The final of the five songs, “Optics” holds a completely different space and approach, appearing slower and with a grunge element to the way the guitar guides the song onwards before Tom’s vocals pierce into telling the story, tying Glimmer together effortlessly. The song is a slow build with a deliberate pace, emphasising the way Tom’s vocals convey a kind of exhaustion and anger.
Glimmer flows between tracks with high-intensity riffs and frantic-sounding drums, which perfectly reflect the intentions of the lyrics. The songs feel like a compliment to one another, a recurring theme that sounds complicated without becoming messy, disorientating, or losing focus; the priorities remain the sole highlight of the EP. Fans of Guilt Trip’s breakdown-driven songwriting and xapothecaryx’s direct political stance would most like Flesh Creep with a recognition and understanding of their talent.
This band holds the priorities of the hardcore scene and community highly, supporting the very roots of left-wing politics throughout their music. The band allows for personal frustrations to bleed into the lyrics, which gives them the grit and relatability. The focus on energy and passion gives the band a strong and definitive position. This refines all the right strengths they have played to before, pushing them further into their designated path.
