Flesh Field is a US electro-industrial act formed in 1996 by Ian Ross in Columbus, Ohio. Their debut album, ‘Viral Extinction’, was released three years later, earning glowing reviews for its widescreen cinematic sound achieved by blending synths, percussion, guitar and sampled choir. The group’s music earned plaudits for its aggressive approach and subsequently featured in a number of film/TV soundtracks and video games.
A remastered reissue of ‘Viral Extinction’ has been released today (27th June). It includes current single ‘Where Angels Go To Die’, which Ross reflects “was written in apocalyptic language as a bleak reflection on disillusionment, spiritual decay and loss of belief. Musically, however, it was designed to sound darkly angelic.”
Having pronounced the retirement of Flesh Field in 2011, Ross eventually relocated to Virginia, where he resurrected the name to issue the album ‘Voice of the Echo Chamber’ in late 2023 and ‘Voice Of Reason’ companion piece EP in April 2024.
VIRAL EXTINCTION
TRACKLISTING
1 Heretic
2 Inside
3 Overload
4 The Plague
5 Silicon Skies
6 Where Angels Go To Die
7 Prophecy
8 My Saviour
9 Utopia
10 Animal
11 Fallen Angel
12 Cyberchrist
13 Prophecy (Nostrothomas A23 Mix)
14 My Saviour (Violated Beauty Remix)
Flesh Field is a US electro-industrial act formed in 1996 by Ian Ross in Columbus, Ohio. Their debut album, ‘Viral Extinction’, was released three years later, while several of its songs were subsequently remixed by several contemporaries and issued together with new material on the album-length ‘Redemption’ EP in 2000.
Highlighting the band’s compositional skills with bombastic symphonic elements and intricate synth and percussion programming, 2001’s ‘Belief Control’ solidified Flesh Field’s status as a band to be reckoned with. It also led to the group signing to Metropolis Records for the US release of their third album, ‘Strain’. With new layers of acoustic and electronic percussion, guitar and choral effects added into the mix, these elements resulted in an epic and anthemic feel to a record that was acclaimed by fans and critics alike.
Then, silence. For almost two decades, Flesh Field lay dormant, even as numerous tracks from their catalogue were placed in the soundtracks of films including ‘The Mill’, TV shows such as ‘True Blood’ and video games like ‘Project Gotham Racing’. ‘Voice Of The Echo Chamber’ suddenly appeared in 2023, a concept work with each of its ten tracks representing stages of political radicalisation and violence. It was followed by an album length companion piece EP entitled ‘Voice Of Reason’.