UMUR Through The Flesh To The Soul is the 4th full-length studio album by Danish thrash metal act Invocator. The album was released in October 2003 by Scarlet Records. Invocator split-up after the release of Dying To Live (1995) but reformed again around 2000. Drummer and founding member Per M. Jensen had in meantime opted to join Swedish thrash metal act The Haunted and was replaced by Jakob Gundel, who plays the drums on Through The Flesh To The Soul. This means that lead vocalist/ guitarist Jacob Hansen is the only founding member left in the lineup on this album.

The music on the album is thrash metal with Jacob Hansen´s quite distinct vocals in front. The band are very well playing, and the technical level of playing is generally very high. Besides Jacob Hansen´s aggressive vocal delivery he also adds some more melodic vocals in places. While the songs are as such quality thrash metal tracks I find most of the songs strangely monotone and in the end I have a hard time telling most of them apart. And believe me, I´ve given this album many spins over the years. I used to be a big fan of Invocator and couldn´t believe my ears, the first time I listened to Through The Flesh To The Soul. I find it quite soulless. That doesn´t mean it´s not quality material though, so don´t misunderstand me. From a technical point of view the band does just about everything right, but still the album leaves me cold and in addition to that the album is also too long for its own good with its 54:07 minute long playing time. Several of the songs overstay their welcome by a minute or two.

The production lacks warmth and probably doesn´t help on my impression of the album.

Through The Flesh To The Soul is what I would call a very standard thrash metal album. It´s not a bad album, but especially the songwriting could have been more inspired and memorable. I guess a 3 star rating is warranted.

Time Signature Metal cleanses all...

Genre: tech/prog thrash metal

More or less Jacob Hansen's project, Invocator continues along the lines established on "Weave the Apocalypse" and further developed on "Dying to Live".

This album is slightly more thrashy than its predecessor and, with the departure, of Per M. Jensen, the drumming has become less progressive (not that there's anything wrong with the drumming on this album, it's just a different style) but still impressive (there are some awe-inspiring polyrhythmic bits here and there).

As on "Dying to Live", this album maintains an interesting equilibrium between the groovy metal, thrash metal and progressive metal. While quite original, one might argue that musically "Through the Flesh to the Soul" is slightly reminiscent of Chuck Schuldiner's progressive death metal albums (with Death).

Recommended to fans of melodic and technical thrash metal.