FLESHCRAWL came to life in Illertissen, Germany in spring 1987 by Stefan Hanus and Bastian Herzog. The band worked under the name Morgöth until the year 1990, when they changed their monicker to Suffocation and decided to become much more extreme concerning the musical direction. After their first demo tape "Festering Flesh" they were again forced to change their band name because of the upcoming US Suffocation and their first vinyl appearance. After having found a constant band name in FLESHCRAWL they released their first 7" EP "Lost in a Grave" in 1991 on Morbid Records. One year later FLESHCRAWL inked a record contract with Black Mark Production. In June 1992 they recorded their debut album "Descend into the Absurd" at Montezuma Studio, Stockholm. Shortly after, Mike Hanus replaced Gero Schmitt on guitar. In 1993 Fleshcrawl’s second album "Impurity" was produced in Dan Swanö's Unisound Studio. FLESHCRAWL received great reviews from the international press for their brutal and uncompromising Death Metal sound, not to mention their highly powered live shows. They proved their power at the Easter Bash Tour ’95 where they were joined by Deicide, Cathedral and Brutal Truth as well as Sinister and Kataklysm.

In December ’95 FLESHCRAWL recorded their third album "Bloodsoul” being followed by their fourth album "Bloodred Massacre" in 1997 – both recorded at Abyss Studios by Peter Tägtgren. Having been the debut for the new singer Sven Gross who took over the place of Alex Pretzer, "Bloodred Massacre" earned the best reviews since their first album in 1992.

In 1998 Tobias Schick occupied the long time vacant bassist slot. After the release of "Bloodred Massacre", FLESHCRAWL cut the ties with Black Mark and went on a four week European Tour with Vader and Kataklysm, also participating in festivals with Cannibal Corpse and Dark Funeral. Back from the tour, FLESHCRAWL signed a contract with Metal Blade Records. In January 2000 "As Blood Rains from the Sky - We Walk The Path Of Endless Fire" - produced at Fredman Studios in Gothenburg - was released. A top class production with killer riffs and vocals that penetrate to the bone made "As Blood Rains from the Sky - We Walk The Path Of Endless Fire" an absolute must have item for all Death Metal Fans. Press reactions and reviews for this album turned out to be the best since the band came together in 1987.

In June 2000 FLESHCRAWL went out to tour Europe together with Vader and Vital Remains for a 25 show trek. Several single shows and festivals followed throughout the summer (e.g. Czech Dynamo Festival, Summer Breeze Festival). In the meantime, FLESHCRAWL started preparing their new song material for their 2nd album on Metal Blade. In January 2001 they supported Bolt Thrower on a warm-up tour of Germany and Holland followed by the Torture-Tour in June 2001 supporting Six Feet Under. That same year FLESHCRAWL performed live on the Party-San Open Air. In September 2001 the band entered Studio Underground in Västeras, Sweden, to produce album No. 6 - “Soulskinner”. After having returned from the studio with the best feeling ever, the band went out to promote “Soulskinner” supporting Bolt Thrower and Benediction on a 4 week European Tour in January 2002.

Having played a few single shows in Germany and Europe throughout spring and early summer 2002, FLESHCRAWL performed on Wacken 2002, which turned out to be a really successful experience. This also was the first appearance of new guitarist Oliver Grbavac substituting founding member Stefan Hanus, who quit the band for personal and private reasons. In fall 2002 the band appeared on the Westfalenfestival in Dortmund amongst other gigs. Another premiere took place in November 2002: FLESHCRAWL played their first tour of Japan supporting Hypocrisy from Sweden. This was a very intense and huge experience in the band’s career. In retrospect, the year 2002 became the most successful since the band’s foundation.
After having returned from Japan, FLESHCRAWL started writing for the next album. During the year 2003 the band made itself scarce concerning live shows in order to intensely prepare the new song material for the follow-up to “Soulskinner”. In November 2003, FLESHCRAWL again headed up to Studio Underground in Sweden to record album No. 7, entitled “MADE OF FLESH”, which musically kicks off where “Soulskinner” ended. “MADE OF FLESH” features 10 songs of extreme variety and deadliness - having something in store for every die-hard death metal fan!

FLESHCRAWL supported “Made Of Flesh” by touring with Six Feet Under in February/March of 2004 on a very successful European tour. During the summer of the same year the band played various single shows as well as a bunch of open air festivals (Party.San, Summer Breeze, Metalcamp, Rock Harz, Skeleton Bash, Kaltenbach Openair).

In early 2005 the longtime bass player Tobias Schick left the band for personal reasons. The band continued without a bass player while they were searching for a new fourstringer at the same time. The search took longer than expected and just in early 2007 they found with Nico Scheffler the right guy for the position. Nevertheless the band played various single shows and festivals (Up From The Ground, Walpurgis Metal Days) in the year of 2006.

In early 2006 FLESHCRAWL begun writing new songs for the successor of “Made Of Flesh”. But fate struck the band as several band members had to face serious private problems during 2006 and the songwriting process was hold on ice for a while. The band took off where they left in the second half of 2006 to continue writing songs for the eighth album “STRUCTURES OF DEATH”. Since Tobias was not in the band anymore, the guitar team Mike Hanus and Oliver Grbavac stepped in and delivered a great portion of the song material for this album. For the first time in the bands history FLESHCRAWL didn´t record in Sweden, but in the Studio Toninfusion in their home city Ulm/Germany with Martin Schmitt behind the desk. The clear and heavy rough mixes proved their decision to be right! Pelle Saether at Studio Underground in Västeras, Sweden mixed and mastered the album once again and delivered the perfect job!

Between 2008 and 2015 the band did not release new music, however was always active playing live.
Over the years FLESHCRAWL played several well known fests like SWR Barroselas (2008), Protzen Openair (2008, 2016), Queens of Metal (2008), Rock Maraton (2008), Summer Breeze (2000, 2004, 2008), Battlefield Metalfest (2009), Chronical Moshers (2010), Way of Darkness (2007, 2011), Fistful of Metalfest (2012), Stromgitarrenfest III (2012), Inferno Metalfest (2013), RockHard Festival (2013), Bang Your Head Openair (2013), Baden in Blut (2014), Faces of Death in Moscow (2014), Nepal Deathfest (2016), Paelzer Hell (2016), Holsteiner Deathfest (2016), Death Shall Rise (2016) and Schoonebeek Deathfest (2017) as well as many club shows.

In the year 2011 Nico Scheffler quit on bass and was replaced by Manuel Markowski.

In 2015 FLESHCRAWL teamed up with Skinned Alive to produce a split CD with 4 new songs which was released by Brutal Arts Records and in the following year of 2016 released again by FDA Records.
Beginning of 2016 FLESHCRAWL embarked on their first ever Asian tour. 8 shows across countries like United Arab Emirates, Nepal, Thailand, Taiwan, Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam. It turned out to be a fantastic experience and great success!

Later on in the year 2016, the band released “Festering Thoughts from a Grave”. A remastered re-release of both old demo tapes and the 7”EP on CD via Raw Skull Recordz.

By mid 2017, plans for a new album did gather way and were furtheron propelled throughout the year 2018 together with planning increased live activities with shows in Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Portugal as well as appearances on well known festivals like Obscene Extreme, Helsinki Deathfest, NRW Deathfest and Way of Darkness.

In August 2018 FLESHCRAWL signed with the top european booking agency for extreme metal: District 19 !
In November 2018, guitarist Mike Hanus was replaced by Slobodan Stupar and this year was then finished off with an appearance at the renowned Eindhoven Metal Meeting festival.

At the beginning of 2019, FLESHCRAWL signed a worldwide record deal with Apostasy Records - preparation and songwriting for the new album was in full swing!

In 2019 further shows in Germany, Italy, Belgium and Czech Republic were done as well as festival appearances at Heidelberg deathfest, Braincrusher fest and Vienna Metal Meeting. In May 2019 FLESHCRAWL headed over to the UK for 3 shows followed by another 3 shows in the US including a show at Maryland deathfest in Baltimore.

Once back home, the band completed all works on the long awaited new album “Into The Catacombs Of Flesh” which also is the first album they release with Apostasy Records. The long-awaited follow-up to “Structures Of Death” (2007) is fulfilled with pent-up rage and more than 30 years of death metal experience. Your appetite for death will be pleased by the uncompromising title-track, the waltzing 'Ossuary Rituals', the downright doomy 'Grave Monger' or the speedy 'Of Frozen Bloody Grounds'. “Into The Catacombs Of Flesh” was released on 29th November 2019.

In March 2020, Slobodan Stupar handed over guitar duties to Christian “Kalbsgrinder” Kalbrecht. Beginning of December 2020, FLESHCRAWL and guitarist Oliver Grbavac decided to go separate ways and was replaced by Apu Justin Reisch. The new line-up is looking forward to forging the next chapter of FLESHCRAWL !!

LINE-UP:

Sven Gross – vocals
Christian Kalbrecht – guitar
Apu Justin Reisch - guitar
Manuel Markowski – bass
Bastian Herzog – drums