Review by Dominik on October 10, 2026.

I am sure that, like me, you know people who are appalled by the "abrasive" noise created by the "abuse" of electric guitars. Well, here is your salvation. Flesia, a band hailing from Leipzig, Saxony, set out to prove that you can produce completely unhinged, non-melodic extreme metal using nothing but drums, bass guitar and a slightly unbalanced vocalist. "Achterbahnekstase" ("Rollercoaster Ecstasy") is the aptly titled latest work of the band. It consists of three songs and 40 minutes of playtime, and a rollercoaster it is. Whether you become ecstatic or not depends on your tolerance for being put in a tumbler straight from a Stephen King novel, which cleans you in blood and feces, chews on you, and spits you out in pieces. The three cuts cover my complete spectrum, from "gimme more of that" to "do I really have to go through another repetitive loop again?".

"Druck" ("Pressure") opens in brutal fashion. The song immediately blasts you against the wall, and the frontman is hellbent on outdoing Anaal Nathrakh's vocalist in terms of how much vitriol you can spit within a minute. For the first four minutes, the pace is relentlessly high, with most variation coming from short breaks and vocals that occasionally move into deep growls before snapping back. The bass for a change is pleasantly audible (Ok, just kidding, of course. Wanted to check how attentively you read this review.). The music is extreme to the core, while probably still qualifying as some kind of black metal. Mid-song, the pace drops but the intensity increases, and you start wondering just how much pressure the two instruments forming the rhythm section can produce. The frontman roars like a wild boar, before, at the 6:30 minute mark, the drummer starts speeding up and treating his drums like an ancient anvil. As with riding a rollercoaster, everything is about repetition and going in circles. The final four minutes return to the beginning and unmistakably tell you that buying a ticket for this hellish ride came without a safety net or any guarantee that you'll survive the experience. I liked it, though I have to admit that you feel dragged through a wringer while somebody tries drilling little holes in your brain. I issue a warning: this is not for the faint of heart. Then again, any prohibition will likely create the opposite reaction.

"Raserei" ("Frenzy") doesn't let go and is as appropriately named as its predecessor. The band stays loyal to their formula. The only change seems to be that the slower, more intense parts do the heavy lifting, while the excessive, nearly omnipresent blasting of the opener serves as a reprieve here. I can relate to everyone claiming that listening to this release physically hurts. It does. Interestingly, into the sixth minute, "Raserei" starts to confuse the hell out of me. It stops as if you crashed face-first into a wall, and the song continues as if the band decided to start a parody of extreme, bass-guitar-driven doom metal with just the riffs missing. The drums move at a perceived 5 bpm while the bass plays in slow motion. Of course, this cannot last, and the song regains most of its intensity going forward. The "riffs" would be melodic if it weren't for the fact that they're played on bass guitar. That the song ends in a frenzy shouldn't come as a surprise.

The closer, "Im Kreis Nach Unten" ("Spiralling Downwards"), doesn't present anything new. This could easily be the result of putting the other two songs in a blender and seeing what comes out. The band does not necessarily spiral downwards, but rather completely out of control. That the song is maybe the weakest track on the album may stem from the fact that, at 14:34 minutes runtime, your ears bleed, your throat is raw, and the bass starts to give you indigestion. This is one that overstayed its welcome.

The album is a case of the sum of its parts being less than its parts. Listening to each song alone gives me just the right dose of aggression for a day, while the release as a whole may make you want to destroy things you'll regret the day after. The fact that the cover artwork reminds you more of a hardcore / grindcore release underlines the possibility that, maybe, just maybe, the band knows exactly that sometimes they're toppling over the top but do so with a twinkle in their eyes.

Rating 7.7(8) out of 10, because three doses of controlled violence (8/10) are more enjoyable than one prolonged session in the sonic washing machine (7.7/10).