Photo Credit: Christian Sobeck
(The lineage of the German death metal band Fleshcrawl is a long one, with its founding dating back to 1987, but the band persists — their new album Epitome of Carnage was released last June. Our Comrade Aleks interviewed Fleshcrawl guitarist Apu Justin Reisch close to that release date for another publication, and we present it here for the first time in English.)
In 2027, the ferocious Bavarian death metal outfit Fleshcrawl will turn 40! Naturally, the lineup has undergone numerous changes over the years; and only the drummer (and backing vocalist) Bastian Herzog represents nowadays the band’s original lineup, which makes the situation surrounding their new release, Epitome of Carnage, all the more intriguing.
Vocalist Sven Gross had been a long-standing member of the band as well, but he lost his battle with cancer tragically in 2021. Since that year Boris “The Savage” Sharafudinov performs vocals, while guitarists Christian Kalbrecht and Apu Justin Reisch joined Fleshcrawl one year earlier in 2020. And it’s good to mention bassist Manuel Markowski, who has been on board already for 15 years.
So given such turnover, it is remarkable that the group has managed to revive and faithfully capture the spirit of the original Fleshcrawl—complete with its old-school charm, massive, churning power, and infernal delivery.
Bastian easily does both blast-beats and solid mid-tempo rhythms with equal skill. The guitar work by the duo of Christian and Apu is relentless and flawless, while “The Savage” Boris unleashes a ceaseless, inhuman roar. The band does everything necessary to bring to life the stories told in lyrics bearing classic titles like “Bloody Dominion,” “Chapel of Guts,” “Messiah of the Grave,” and “Restored from Flesh.” So it’s an old-school death time, and it’s Apu Justin Reisch here on behalf of the band.
The interview was originally prepared for Dark City magazine.
Hi Apu! How are you doing?
Hi! So far, so good – I’m looking forward to the upcoming release and seeing how the album is ultimately received by the public.
Nice to meet you! So your tenth album Epitome of Carnage is to be released, and there are a seven years’ gap between it and your previous album Into the Catacombs of Flesh. What do you feel now that you finally have it finished? Is there any place for satisfaction left after this long quest?
It feels really, really good to finally hold this thing in my hands as a finished product. Of course, it’s also a bit of a relief that the album turned out exactly as I’d imagined it – for me, the whole package just fits perfectly.
Seven years is a long time, but it’s worth noting that I wasn’t even part of the band back when the last album came out. I’ve been with the band for a good five years now, and at the beginning, the focus was just on functioning as a band and playing shows. On the side, the plan was always to write new songs and release another album. But things only really got serious, I’d say, in the last 2 – 3 years. That’s why we’re all super-happy to have finished this project and are excited to see how Fleshcrawl, with its new lineup and new songs, will be received by the fans.
Epitome of Carnage is the first album you recorded with a new lineup – with three new members, including you, joined by Bastian and Manu not long ago. How stressful was the composing and recording of these songs? Did you have to reinvent Fleshcrawl anew? How difficult was it to orchestrate all the recording sessions?
It was never the plan to have to reinvent Fleshcrawl. The band has found its sound over the years, and of course that needs to be preserved. Chris and I write most of the songs, and since we both come from the same musical background, it wasn’t hard to tap into the Fleshcrawl DNA. That naturally includes revisiting the older albums and drawing inspiration from them bit by bit.
I produced the album in my own studio and knew even before we started how this album was supposed to sound, and everyone else was on board with that. Since we recorded it ourselves, the sessions weren’t hard to organize either. We recorded almost all the instrumentals in one go over a few days and then worked on it piece by piece until everything was finished.
Did you have a central idea for the new songs when you started composing? You have a huge break between Into the Catacombs of Flesh and Structures of Death released back in 2007 already. So did you bother to try keeping it coherent to some degree?
The main idea was to go back a bit further to the band’s roots. I think you can really hear that on the album. But there wasn’t really any set plan or anything like that. It just came together song by song – in the rehearsal room, at home, or wherever. All the ideas were somehow captured and then pieced together into a whole. That’s why I think the album is so diverse.
As I said, I had nothing to do with the last few albums, so it wasn’t necessarily my plan for the next album to sound like the last one. Still, I did take more inspiration from the older albums.
Didn’t you feel limited with Fleshcrawl’s legacy when you worked on new songs? Were there some ideas which didn’t fit the album’s vibe?
I’d say it’s more of a middle thing between limiting yourself and letting your ideas run wild. You don’t want to just throw the Fleshcrawl sound or the whole vibe in the trash, so it makes sense to continue writing songs in that style. I have a ton of ideas that don’t fit the album at all, or even the band’s sound. On the other hand, a little variety is good every now and then. Sometimes there are riff ideas that might not fit into the whole concept at first – but then they end up fitting in perfectly at some point.
As I understand, you and Christian Kalbrecht are quite fresh to the scene. How did you share your parts during composing? Who’s Epitome of Carnage’s main author?
If by that you mean the “metal scene,” then neither of us is new to it by any means. We may not be that old, but we’ve both been around for a long time. As for the band, we’ve both been at it for a few years now. Whoever has an idea just throws it out there, and then we see what we can build from it. Most of the time, one of us comes up with a whole song, and if needed, the other can add a part. Or we’ll sit down together and work on a song. Anything is possible in that case. We’re also the two main songwriters. Borisz has contributed a song, and Basti’s ideas also find their way into the songwriting from time to time.
Sorry, yes, I saw that you played in Vomiting Goat since 2014 and there was Blind Allegiance in 2013, but I compared it with Fleshcrawl’s history. However, when did you learn about Fleshcrawl and how did it happen that you joined the band?
Most of us here are from the same area, and we’re all part of a scene where everyone knows each other in some way or another – so I’ve known the band Fleshcrawl for a very long time. I’ve had plenty of wild parties with Sven and Mike, haha!
I once filled in on drums for Revel in Flesh, and we played two shows here with Fleshcrawl, or we’d always run into each other at concerts or similar events. At some point – late at night, of course – I got to talking with Basti, and a lot of the conversation revolved around how the band was pretty much dead and nothing was working out anymore. So I just said, “Well, then let’s just try making some music,” and we met up in the rehearsal space, and that’s how it all started!
And what’s about Christian? You both arrived at the same time, but you didn’t share common bands before.
I’ve known Chris for a long time, too – we’re from the same area, but we never moved in the same circles, so there hadn’t been a band where we could play together yet. Chris is a very good guitarist, and as far as I know, he just approached the band back then after it became known that Slobodan was no longer part of the group. But that was all before I joined.
You started this chapter with a new single “Embers of Wrath”, a solid, melodic, and balanced piece with a lot of original Fleshcrawl vibe. Didn’t you discuss if it’s better to bludgeon your followers with “Of Fire and Flesh” or “Path of Thorns” instead?
Our very first single was the song “Blood Dominion” – it perfectly captures the direction of this album, the sound of the new lineup, and what we want to share with the world. “Embers of Wrath” was our second single! We chose it because the song is quite a contrast to the first single and is meant to show that the album will have many facets.
There wasn’t much discussion about which songs should be released as singles. We were all in agreement and see it as a good choice. Every song has its own unique character. However, for the singles, we chose the ones that represent the widest range of the album.
What was the most difficult part for you during the work on new songs? And were there parts which are difficult to perform technically?
I think one of the hardest things about writing songs for this kind of music is not repeating yourself or suddenly writing the same riffs that were already on the album from 20 years ago. Unfortunately, there aren’t an unlimited number of notes on the guitar that capture exactly that melodic vibe – but you always find a way. It’s happened to me countless times that I’ve come up with an idea that was already on an older Fleshcrawl album, 1:1.
What I also find difficult is making song demos that don’t have vocals yet really come alive. Because vocals make a huge difference, and without them it usually just sounds like a boring string of riffs strung together.
The guitar work is pretty straightforward technically and, let’s say, not rocket science. The only one who always has to “struggle a bit” is Basti on drums – but I do that on purpose, haha!
Bastian wrote a lot of lyrics previously, so who dealt with it this time? Was it a challenge to write a few more texts in a vein of Fleshcrawl and not repeat yourself or the genre’s cliches?
Borisz wrote most of the lyrics this time. As the vocalist, we just gave him the freedom to let loose. I also wrote the lyrics for the songs I composed myself. I usually write the songs with vocal part ideas already in mind, which then have to fit accordingly. However, my intention was never to create a lyrical masterpiece, and I don’t think that was ever the case in the band’s past either. Borisz, on the other hand, delved more into real-life themes and translated them into fitting lyrics.
Which songs did you compose yourself? And what do you think now about such an approach towards combining lyrics from different authors in one album? Doesn’t it change its logic?
For example, I wrote the first three tracks on the album. “Rebuilt from Flesh,” “Of Fire and Flesh,” and “Orphan God” (co-written with Chris) are also my compositions. If you listen to the whole album, I think you could almost tell which songs are mine and which ones are by Chris or Borisz.
We don’t make concept albums, so it doesn’t matter who writes the lyrics. As I mentioned before, our lyrics don’t have to be lyrical masterpieces, they just need to pick up on blunt death metal themes. That’s all.
You rely on Christian symbolism in lyrics like “Chapel of Guts”, “Grave Messiah”, and “Orphan God” as well. How was your attitude towards Christianity formed? Do you have something against it still or are lyrics like that a kind of extreme metal cultural code?
Fuck any form of religion and churches.
In extreme metal, these themes are obviously perfect for writing dark and sinister lyrics, and in a way, that’s just part of the genre, haha. But I couldn’t care less about Christianity and everything associated with that shitty institution. It’s just not my thing at all. Whether and how I feel about it, I’ll leave open for now – but I’m not going to sit down and actively write a song against the Church.
Do you see “an organized religion” as a worst enemy nowadays?
As I said: Fuck any form of religion and churches.
What about Borisz Sarafutgyinov? It’s difficult to label Borisz as a “new vocalist,” as he joined Fleshcrawl over six years ago as a session member. How much was he involved in the lyrics writing?
No, it isn’t. He has a great voice and fits right in with the band. And (most of) our fans have accepted him as the new singer. There are always a few people here and there who don’t want to accept it, but that’s just how it is. Borisz started out as a session member, though back then we were still in the Covid era when we hardly ever played live. After Sven sadly lost his battle with cancer, it became clear rather quickly that Borisz would be the new singer. Changing singers is, of course, always harder than “replacing” another member – but he’s doing a great job and really captures what Fleshcrawl is all about.
Borisz wrote the lyrics for most of the songs himself and figured out how to sing them. We then made adjustments here and there during the recording sessions to get the best possible result out of everything.
How do the band’s fans react on Fleshcrawl’s live shows, as there’s only one original member, and the lineup was massively updated?
I haven’t heard anyone say (or cry) yet that the live show sucked just because Basti is the only original member left. As a whole, we bring a great energy to the stage – something that might have been missing in the years before the lineup change. There are so many bands that don’t have many original members left, but that has to be normal somewhere. That doesn’t make bands any worse or boring. You just need the right people who can bring across the energy of any band and who are up for it. And that’s exactly how we’re set up right now.
How much do Fleshcrawl’s gigs differ from those you play with your other bands? By the way, is it easy to combine activities in different bands now?
My other bands are much more rooted in the underground scene, where the shows are naturally often a bit smaller or more DIY. But that doesn’t mean they’re any different from gigs with Fleshcrawl. Unfortunately, a lot of shows these days are just really hit-or-miss – which is surely partly because there’s just too much going on at once.
In my opinion, it’s the small shows that matter, whether it’s Fleshcrawl, Sacroscum, or one of my other bands. That’s where you usually find the people who are really into it and go all out! Fleshcrawl takes up a lot of time, and we have a lot of shows coming up. But there’s still time for other things. Though it’s not quite that simple. You have to set priorities somehow, even if you resist doing so.
What’s your attitude towards Descend into the Absurd today? Do you see it as a necessary part of the band’s DNA? Do you cherish its legacy still trying not to go too far from Fleshcrawl’s roots?
We consider Descend into the Absurd as a totally essential piece of the FC legacy. Many fans out there also see that album as an absolute classic in the death doom field. Even now after almost 35 years! The album actually turns 35 in 2027!!
You will actually find a lot of elements from Descend… also in the songs of Epitome of Carnage. Therefore some parts of Descend… also live on in the form of Epitome…
And we can also perform most of the Descend… songs still on stage if needed.
What are your plans for the rest of 2026? How far do your ambitions spread regarding tours and other activities?
We will play a few summer festivals like Underground Deathfest and Party San Open Air in Germany and Obscene Extreme in Czech Republic plus a few other shows here and there. In November we will team up with Avulsed from Spain and Violentor from Italy to do an 11 shows run in Europe, and in December we will head down to Spain for another 5 shows.
Let’s see what else 2026 might bring …
For 2027 we want to be active on the stages globally a lot more!
Thanks for the interview Apu! And thanks for your time, it’s much appreciated. Didn’t we skip something important regarding Epitome of Carnage?
Thanks a lot! It was a pleasure!
Be sure to listen to the album from start to finish – and don’t forget to pour yourself some of your favorite drinks. Other than that: Keep supporting the scene and keep headbanging!!!