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Most will know guitarist Curran Murphy from his days with Nevermore (touring guitarist) and Annihilator. In 2006 Curran Murphy stepped out of the shadows and presented Shattered Messiah with their debut Never To Play The Servant.
With Shatter Messiah Murphy continues the play thrashy metal, even if these days more towards Nu thrash. At some parts Greg Wagner even adds some growls.
The opening track Idolator has partly an old school thrash metal feeling, but is based on a heavy groove. Like a modern version of some US metal bands like Omen... But not as catchy as most US metal. The title track God Burns Like Flesh is a heavy, grooving one which sounds a bit like Nevermore... Even the vocals have some similarity to Warrel Dane - at least partly -, but Wagner shows a variety of styles. Pathway is a bit slower then the other tracks and so is easier to get in, coz so you have the chance to discover all the sound details. And almost catchy... On Stripped Of Faith they speed up again and complex parts get lost in the speed. Even if they break into some more mid-tempo for awhile. It seems the band get hounded... A pity. With Dirge Of The Christ and Buried In Black it gets a bit better. The later one isn't really an ear catcher, but is memorable after a few spins. With Buried In Black they push the accelerator down again. For a few moments you think they will turn to death metal with hyper-fast riffing, but when Wagner sets in they slow down a bit and so give Wagner the space to show his range. But they included a slower part with a nice, short guitar solo. But they show their whole sound spectrum with the final track Tomorrow Immortal! With about 7 minutes the last tune is the longest one on God Burns Like Flesh. This one even includes some slow parts where they leave the guitar riffing behind, but they switch back and forth to heavy riffing. Some virtuously played solo parts are added. Musical twists and turns from melodic death metal to heavy metal to power metal and thrash... The song somehow reminds me again of Nevermore... The part with the marching drums at the end is a surprise and let the song fade out.
The songs are well played and Murphy can show his craftsmanship - like the rest of the guys. But even if the songs are good, there is no killer track... No song which haunts you for days... A good album, but these days often a good album isn't enough... If they get the chance to tour they will make friends, coz live the songs will work way better!
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