UMUR "Soulskinner" is the 6th full-length studio album by German death metal act Fleshcrawl. The album was released through Metal Blade Records in January 2002. It´s the successor to "As Blood Rains From the Sky... We Walk the Path of Endless Fire" from 2000. There´s been one lineup change since the predecessor as bassist Tobias Schick has been added to the ranks (guitarist Mike Hanus played the bass parts on "As Blood Rains From the Sky... We Walk the Path of Endless Fire (2000)"). Since their inception Fleshcrawl have been exponents for old school death metal in it´s purest form and rest assure that nothing has changed on "Soulskinner".

...we´re still treated to straight forward old school death metal with brutal growling vocals (only few words stand out. The vocals are mostly unintelligible), crunchy downtuned riffing (the riffing often reminds me of Dismember both in sound and in style) and drumming that spans from blast beating, D-beat drumming, slower doomy rythms and mid-paced groovier beats. The band are very well playing and "Soulskinner" also features a really brutal and powerful sound production that suits the music well.

As such all of the above features should have ensured a really good ride if you are a fan of old school death metal, but unfortunately "Soulskinner" proves to be a somewhat one-dimensional affair. By the time I reach track 4 or 5 on the album I´m wondering when track number 2 ends and that´s a sign that the tracks lack memorable moments/hooks. I´m entertained while the album plays, but only remember very few moments from the album when it´s over. Now I expect old school death metal albums to be somewhat one-dimensional, because that´s sort of the premise of the genre and usually also a demand from the fans of that particular genre, but there still needs to be hooks to hold on too, for an album to stick and they are basically not present here. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.