Band:	Beyond The Flesh
Album:	What The Mind Perceives
Style:	Melodic death metal
Release date:	2003

01. Rise Above The Weak
02. Fleshwound
03. The Scars That Remain
04. Is This Life?
05. The Sick
06. Wastedland
07. Darkest days
08. Scattered Thoughts
09. Prophecies Of The Dead
10. What The Mind Perceives

Another surprise from the land of Uncle Sam, America is know for his past Metal scene, but the glories from the past are gone now, Metal belongs to Europe, and America have left? Nu-metal [way to go guys!], or I thought so, because Beyond The Flesh, the object of our little review is a great band that doesn't have anything to do with Nu-Metal whatsoever, instead they play melodic riff-driven Death Metal with some Thrash influences.

The incredible thing is that they're unsigned, I wonder if record labels have something against American bands and they prefer to sign an mediocre European act rather than a talented bunch of guys doing great music? there's something to think about.

You know what comes to my mind when I listen to these guys? Carcass, ahhh Carcass, one of the greatest bands of all times, I don't know what it is, but the main voice sounds kind of Carcass in "Heartwork", and the riffs are also very similar, but please don't get me wrong here, this is not a Carcass copycat, borrowing some influences doesn't make a band unoriginal, it just enriches them.

So continuing with the album, it has some great melodies, the riffing is just great, and the vocals are handled with great versatility, some killer songs are the opener 'Rise Above The Weak' and 'Is This Life', also don't forget 'Scattered Thoughts'.

Did I mention the packaging? For a self-release is very well done, the cover art, booklet, very professional, I'm always happy when unsigned bands are pushing the envelope in terms of quality, because other bands might follow the steps and put their best effort in each material, there isn't a rule that says that unsigned bands have to come up with low quality demos/promos/CDs.

So if you want some European influenced American Melodic Death Metal with some Thrash and Florida-Death Metal bits here and there, get this one, also, two thumbs up for the production, very well done also, look out for Beyond The Flesh, these guys might surprise us in the future and, record labels, please give Uncle Sam a chance to prove that not everything is Nu-Crap and tasty hamburgers.