TRUExFeeling- Of Flesh and Steel album review

I’m taking a trip back to the end of March 2024, a time when a straight edge band from Sofia, Bulgaria, going by the name of TruexFeeling, released an absolute rager of an LP. The band's debut album was released through Bound By Modern Age Records out of Hamburg, Germany. The album Of Flesh and Steel shares a label with bands such as UK straight edge rippers xApothecaryx and Hour of Reprisal, amongst many others.

Personally, I think this record has been slept on by many in both the hardcore and metal scenes. This is 27 minutes of pure, brutal beatdown hardcore with lashings of death metal from start to finish.

The album begins with a sense of foreboding, created by a marching snare beat accompanied by eerie synths. Then, evil guitar chords are introduced as intro track x2024x gives the impression that something is coming. Vermin is the second track on the album, and it introduces the band's sound with a swift blow to the jaw. The lyrics are every bit as hard as the music. I get the impression that the words are directed at someone who has broken edge:

“No discipline, no morals
For you it was just another craze
No passion, no direction
We’re counting down your days”

This is militant straight edge. These are lyrics that would not look out of place on an Earth Crisis or xRepentancex record. The sonic assault on Vermin is relentless. The guitar tone is dirty and distorted, and you can feel the double kick drums pounding in your chest. It feels urgent and important, a sound that cannot be ignored.

For me, the next track, Bleed As We Reign, is the highlight of the album. There is no let-up in intensity here. It starts at a million miles an hour and never slows down. As expected, the lyrics carry a strong message of unwavering devotion to straight edge, the message, the lifestyle, the music. This is real "nailed to the X" substance.

The breakdown on this track is hard as nails. The nasty guitar tone and thunderous tom hits before the addition of xChokex vocalist Grigor Stoilov on the breakdown are enough to get fists flying at any show.

“Bleed as we reign
Be cursed and forgotten
Bleed as we reign
The end for you is near
You bleed as we reign,
Where’s your honour, motherfucker?”

This is straight edge: a lifestyle, a movement, not a fad or a craze. This is what it means.

Forever straight edge. Forever strong.


It would be remiss of me not to mention some of the other highlights on the LP. Tracks such as Age of Disgrace feature the same typically resolute lyrical content found throughout the record. Although much of the album is thematically centred around the straight edge message, the writing remains engaging and impactful. It never feels tired or repetitive. Instead, the sincerity and devotion to the lifestyle come across in an intelligent and succinct manner. Hard riffs and a hard message. The breakdown on Age of Disgrace is monstrous made more impactful with the ominous bass intro to the carnage and the singular chyna hit before the track gets beautifully filthy.

‘Graveyard Honor’ features one of the coolest two-step parts in any Hardcore track I’ve heard for a while. Heads will be getting checked to this track. The breakdown hits like a ball of destruction, dragging the song to a violent end.

The track Prevail serves as an anti-fascist anthem. The song appears to reference the rise of far-right movements across Europe and the need to resist and fight back. As far as I'm concerned, this is a message that will always be welcome in hardcore. The lyrics are direct, urgent, and impossible to ignore.

I particularly enjoyed the gang vocal section:

"No rest until victory!"

It's simple, impactful, and authentic it perfectly captures the spirit of the track and is guaranteed to be shouted back from the floor at any show.

If you missed this album in 2024 luckily for you, I have brought it back to the surface. If you like straight-up vicious beatdown hardcore with the straight edge message and a death metal tinge. Look no further and thank me later.

Below is the review posted on DIY Conspiracy. Check out their other reviews....

https://diyconspiracy.net/true...