REVIEW: PeelingFlesh – The G Code [2024]

Artist: PeelingFlesh
Album: The G Code

Not too long ago, I had a friend of mine text me that he was seeing a band opening up for Jesus Piece that he thought I would like. “I can’t remember their name,” he started with, “but they play a shit ton of slams and breakdowns with Three 6 Mafia samples. It seems like a thing you’d like.” The band he was referencing, of course, is none other than Oklahoma’s own PeelingFlesh—and he knows me pretty well, because they’ve been a band on my radar since the months leading up to the Human Pudding EP release. Just about two years later—and three years since the band’s breakout into the heavy music scene—and we’re graced with The G Code, a VVS-laden, solid-gold (not gold-plated), shittin’ on the diamond tester piece of stone cold slamming prowess. An amalgam of hip-hop and slamming deathcore (a combination that makes more sense then the listener might have first thought), The G Code is a powerhouse, and after PeelingFlesh’s diamond-plated discography, it’s more or less exactly what the listener would expect—in all the right ways. Grisly gutturals? Check. Sledghammer-to-the-dome slams? Check. Samples? Check. PeelingFlesh craft a stunning record that will make their long-time fans and cult-followers ecstatic and serve excellently to recruit new goons into the fold as well.

If you’re new around here, everything PeelingFlesh do they do to invoke primal violence. Period. The G Code embodies this to the nth degree. Starting with their introductory cut, PeelingFlesh bring down sledgehammer after sledgehammer on the listener’s fragile skull—whether its the blitzing percussion from Joe Pelletier or sludgy bass from Austin Hirom, the track is made with point-blank ruthless intent.

As The G Code continues, this simple modus operandi does not change.

Guiatrists Mychal Soto and Jason Parrish continue their oppressive reign on the listener’s sanity with breakdown after breakdown after riff after slam with the simple-but-effective “Shoot 2 Kill” or the raunchy, catchy cascade of ten-ton riffs that defines “Barbarism.” Even the band’s interlude—split into an ambient, eerie trap section and an ultra-groovy slamming section—brings rambunctious aggression out of Soto and Parrish. “SKIN BLUNT” is one such example, a segue from DJ MRD’s “Full of Lead” interlude that kicks off with a bouncy, bold groove and ends in a steadily devolving salvo of sludgy aggression (and a timeless sample from Reverend X/Spirit of Truth, a high school favorite). Instrumentally, Pelletier’s technicality and speed is a stellar contrast from the brute-force approach taken by Soto, Parrish and Hirom, making The G Code an outstanding example of a band not out-thinking their intent; what they aim to deliver is purely primal brutality, and they deliver it in spades.

PeelingFlesh’s vocal element is multifaceted—especially if one considers their bountiful inclusion of media and hip-hop samples part of their “vocal” element. Frontman Damonteal Harris strikes again with an unending armamentarium of grisly guttural bellows. I’m not honestly sure if any of his parts actually have lyrics—and that’s totally okay. Where Harris doesn’t truly need any features to keep the listener engaged, PeelingFlesh continue to push the envelope with dueling Despised Icon features on the record’s title track, as well as bringing on Cold Hard Truth’s Tim Louth—among several other stunning featured vocalists. Admittedly, these are the only parts that I can clearly understand distinct words, but that doesn’t make Harris’ vocals any less enjoyable or effective. The dialectic he establishes with each featured vocalist is profound in both style and effect, putting PeelingFlesh into an echelon of their own.

But then there are the samples to consider. Opening with a news clip that weaves into an E-A-Ski “Blast If I Have To” sample straight out of Friday, touching on samples from Presidential statements (“Shoot 2 Kill”), viral videos (“SKIN BLUNT” and “The G Code”) and more, PeelingFlesh’s creative use of samples to accent their songs is something thats been unheard of since the last time KillWhitneyDead have graced the scene—though one could argue how they implement samples is even more stunning. There is a simple beauty in a hip-hop verse layered excellently over a ten-ton slam—and PeelingFlesh do it so naturally you’d think the original rap song was written that way. The G Code sees the band doing this more than on any of their previous releases, and each time it is with an amazing result.

I’ll probably get heat for this, but I think when one considers the mission PeelingFlesh embarked on when they hit the studio to make The G Code, they executed it perfectly. The G Code isn’t progressive, enlightened or conscious. It is a fun, ruthless, violent and catchy record worth its weight in gold and/or narcotics. PeelingFlesh take the inherent similarities abundant between slamming subgenres and hip-hop and turn it up to ten, making subtle influence into an explicit amalgam—and the result is perfect. The G Code was a highly anticipated record on my end, and it delivered more than I ever could have hoped, making it one of dangerously few practically perfect records of 2024.

10/10
For Fans Of: Restrictor Plate, Snuffed on Sight, Field Dressed, Boltcutter
By: Connor Welsh