Herein lies the heart of the alchemical work undertaken by New Jersey's Beyond the Flesh. In their latest release, What the Mind Perceives, the mission is to synergize divergent realms; melodic Swedish and progressive death with the mortar of American-seasoned thrash, and even the occasional foray into grind and black. Are they merely peddling snake oil? Hardly. Standby to be impressed.

One thing is for certain, the players in Beyond the Flesh harbor an innate understanding of those diverse heavy elements which they blend, as is evidenced by their excellence at doing so. Overall, the tenor of the album is dynamic and consistently exceptional--- a well executed balance between the firey friction generated by the rhythm section, and the splendid, icy interplay between the two guitars. The vocals keep their main focus geared toward middle-pitched snarl, though do branch into the traditional gutturals associated with death metal, and even make the sporadic wade into the higher, raspy registers encountered in the black metal realm (without the cavernous reverb, of course). Indeed, the occurrence of mid and guttural vocal "trade offs" showcased on What the Mind Perceives is not only reminiscent of celebrated grindcore/death act Carcass, but goes further to outline the band's broad range of musical influences, ranging from others such as the legendary Death, Slayer, and Cannibal Corpse.

Indeed, the band proudly dedicated What the Mind Perceives to the memory of one of heavy metal's greatest and most talented benefactors--- the late Chuck Schuldiner (5.13.67 - 12.13.01).

As the drawbridge of the first track "Rise Above the Weak" lowers, Beyond the Flesh set out to outline their musical objective; polished, tight chemistry (rare for such a relatively fresh arrival), vicious death metal, awash with sharply melodic, rapidly fired progressive structures, yet FIRMLY built upon a solid, working understanding of classic metal. This last ingredient is central to what is acheived in this recording. The band's sound reaches down into the roots of the mother genre. The importance of this cannot be stressed too greatly. In "Rise Above the Weak", the first manifestaion of a guitar solo, right around 2:39 is but a flirtation, in terms of length, of what is to come, and from this the band gears up to dive headlong into "Fleshwound", arguably one of the best off of What the Mind Perceives, with its dizzying, break-neck juggling act of uncountable riffs and changes, and needle-pointed solowork around 3:13.

With little room for doubt, the assault on the senses is further amplified on tracks such as "The Scars That Remain" (with its early bursts of jagged, thrashy triplets), "The Sick" (classic uptempo death opening and brief dabblings into grind stylings), and "Darkest Days" (with its demonic snare fills, and its leaps between manically crammed scalework and chompy mid-tempo palm mutes).

Even still, the strongest suit that Beyond the Flesh has to offer is, without question, their memorable, jaw-dropping skill at employing the long beloved classic metal technique of the dueling harmony. I strongly suspect that Justin Leary and Rick Flanegan will, in time, take a seat alongside the better-known masters of this venerated technique. Just run a few spins of tracks like "In This Life" (with its gorgeous, clean take down and monastic bells at its tail end), "Prophecies of the Dead" (massive melodies proceeded by well-timed dirge romps and a magnificent lead around 3:53), and the final, self titled track (with its war-borne, galloping introduction, fast exchange of brutal but melodic changes, and explosively fast yet carefully measured double bass drum work).

The verdict: Inasmuch as What the Mind Perceives is the band's first full length release, I anticipate that Beyond the Flesh will make big waves in the underground metal scene during the years to come. Metalers with a palate for the extremities of the mother genre take heed: this recording is a sound acquisition to make.