Malformed Confinement Of Flesh Review
Malformed
Confinement of Flesh
Dark Descent (US)/Extremely Rotten Productions (EU)
2025
Finland… By now, this part of Europe is the stuff of legend and has a lore and band lineage like that of Sweden and Norway in the most extreme metal circles, and for good damn reason. Have you ever heard the phrase “Finnish death metal”? You have? Ok, great. Then you most assuredly know of the practically God-like status of Demilich, Convulse, Demigod, Amorphis and Sentenced. All bands from Finland and all are great. Well, now we can add another to the list in Helsinki’s, Malformed who just released their worldwide debut, Confinement of Flesh. Let's dig a little deeper.
This formidable quartet of malcontents started making noise in 2022, behind the strength of their demo Uncontrollable Malformity, which US based label Rotted Life picked up and released. Then in 2023 they inked a deal with Extremely Rotten Productions in Europe for 2023’s Gathering of Souls. Based on the strength of those two albums, they are now making inroads into the US with ERP partnering with Dark Descent Records and the nine songs of Confinement of Flesh.
Malformed are Eetu Hyvönen- Lead Vocals & Guitars, Akseli Lindroos - Guitar, Pauli Niemi - Bass & Vocals and Jani Seppi - Drums. The album was recorded by the band themselves and produced/engineered by Felix Pennanen (Disguised Malignance). It was mastered by Lasse at Ballade Studios.
Getting into the overall sound of this album is quite satisfying if you are a fan of the Finnish death metal sound. For those of us who are, all the trademarks are represented skillfully with nightmarish darkness. You have the requisite blast beats, atmospheric soundscapes, brutality and heaviness, deep growls, unique rhythms/song structures and the calling card - melodic and technical elements. There is something inherently dare I say, evil about the songs crafted here within the framework of such a celebrated sound. After my first listen, what struck me most were the very shred-tastic and accomplished guitar solos. The rhythms are all properly down tuned, sludgy hitting like a ton of blood-soaked bricks and the drums and bass are formidable. While some parts are somewhat technical, they aren't as such that you are doing math in your head as each part is played or wondering how many bpms, counts or notes are included. I say all of that to state that Malformed could certainly do that stuff justice, but it's only included in tasteful flourishes that enhance the songs as opposed to feeling like they’re all competing in a game of “look what I can do!” on their respective instruments.
The songs themselves seem to fly by, and all come in around the ¾ minute mark. So, you’re looking at a running time of 31:33, which should suit most of your attention spans just fine. It's honestly a bit short for 9 tunes, but that's what I love about it. It leaves me wanting at least one or two more songs and that's certainly not detrimental to the proceedings. All the compositions have something going for them with my favorites being the opener “Within the Flesh” it starts off with long, held out chords over some pinging bass and then dives into a frenetic and fast verse. Next up I must mention the ferocious “The Bleeding” era Cannibal Corpse plod of the main riff of “Eyes Torn Out” that segues flawlessly in and out of racing speeds and boasts some tasty lead work. This is also the shortest song here coming in at 2:56. Other standouts are the very Swedish leaning “Confinement of Terror” and the all guns blazing muscular mid-pacer “Abnormal Eulogy”.
Malformed are certainly not reinventing the wheel, as I hear influences that sit heavily in the Convulse and Demigod yard, but what I do find interesting is the slower doom parts with the melodic and sometimes harmonized guitars tend to point to Hooded Menace as a direct inspiration also. This is a band to watch and if they keep producing such memorable stuff, we can count them amongst the Finnish elite in short order. Well done gentlemen!
~TB
https://darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com/album/confinement-of-flesh