Band:	Project: Failing Flesh
Album:	The Conjoined
Style:	Avantgarde metal, Industrial thrash metal
Website:	http://www.projectfailingflesh.com
Release date:	March 2007

01. Final Act Of Treachery
02. Through The Broken Lens
03. Regenerate
04. The Conjoined
05. Motionless
06. Unsight Unseen
07. Eye Of Demise
08. Synensthesia
09. Second Impact Syndrome
10. Surface Noise
11. The Hand That You've Been Dealt

Ah, Project: Failing Flesh. One of the most interesting and innovative industrial thrash band I have heard in the past few years. Their debut “A Beautiful Sickness”, released in 2004 through the late Karmageddon Records – but reviewed on this site more than one year before when the band was still looking for a record deal -, came off as a surprise to quite a lot of people, in spite of its very confident distribution. There was something fresh and new about this band that could only appeal to fans of cerebral and twisted music. One could wonder whether the follow-up album would fulfil all the promises shown by the debut. It does. It really does; and even more.

“The Conjoined” is all a second album should be. It is more extreme, more brutal, tighter in its execution, better written, more straightforward and yet even more experimental than the debut. “A Beautiful Sickness” sounds like a rough sketch compared to “The Conjoined”. The band did not really modify the basics of their formula, they just did it better. This is more of the same experimental thrash vaguely similar to both Meshuggah and Voivod (I say vaguely because one thing is certain: this band definitely does not lack personality) but where some breaks and a couple of rhythm changes sounded too obvious and a little awkward on the first album, everything seems to be falling into place here. Same applies to the samples and various industrial sounds. They are more frequently used and yet they don’t overburden the music. They sound natural. I think this is what you’d call brilliant songwriting.

And on to one of P:FF’s strongest points: Eric Forrest’s vocals. His works with Voivod and E-Force already made it quite clear that he was a force to be reckoned with. The two Project: Failing Flesh albums now show that this man can do no wrong. His contribution to the feeling of insanity of this album is infinite. His tormented screams have an edge that would make you question his mental health. “The Conjoined” already sounds quite chaotic and psychotic by itself alone, but add these mad incantations and the result is simply eerie in a sinister, hellish sense.

This album is truly one of a kind. While coupling the lunatic heaviness of Godflesh and the classical experiments of Hollenthon, it still manages to sound at times like a cold and dismal thrash version of Alchemist. This is a very confusing listen in the sense that nothing on “The Conjoined” seems quite normal. The band have a passion for noise and dissonance and yet the album is not particularly noisy and the dissonance eventually sounds musical. Everything is twisted and weird (listen to this crazy saxophone on the title track and try not to jump out of the window) and makes you feel as if you were in one of these odd dreams where all sense of perspective and direction seems to be abolished. The talent of the band is that they make this painful experience memorable and truly arresting. In other words, “The Conjoined” is a trip to be experienced. Better than any drug.

Highlights: the whole album is a highlight. I know it sounds like a cliché but it is true.