FLESHVESSEL : "Obstinacy: Sisyphean Dreams Unfolded"

The New Orleans-based band's second album feels like they are wading out even further into chaotic progressive waters. I don't remember the falsetto vocals on the previous album; it's like they want to be King Diamond but do not have the pipes for it. The song winds around with dissonance. The falsetto vocals are very pitchy, rather than the sharp punctuations that soar like King Diamonds, which feels like the only way to do it. The instrumental section that ends with is really cool, and leaning into this side of what they do would benefit them. 

The angular nature of the riff that leads into the second song is kind of cool, and if Frank Zappa were playing death metal, that is the kind of riff he might have written. The free-form ambiance they wander off into here is nice. I think going on a path like Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, where metal is not the band's sole focus could work, but with their nam,e it feels like death metal is on brand, not that there is anything wrong with their style of death metal just such cool regions they are capable of delving into. They end up in a somewhat more traditional style of death metal but with some sonic embellishments. 

They continue to retain the melodic elements and the angular throb of their sound without resorting to just blasting or pummelling you with a wall of riffage, which is one of their strengths as a band. This means they are writing at times obtuse sections of song that are not hooky but show a great deal of prowess with their instruments that borders on jazz. The falsetto vocals are often so sharp that they are out of key, making them the least appealing aspect of what's happening. The last song starts off with a whispered vocal against an acoustic passage that sounds like they are trying much harder to sound like King Diamond, but are missing the point that it is the darkness of his sound that is at the essecene of what he does more than the quirky theatrics. 

A more pressing question becomes, can they hold my attention for a 16-minute song? It takes 11 of those minutes before we are wandering through an abstract prog jam. In the end, there is a great deal of spectacular sounds but not much in terms of things to hook you into this so much so that by the time the last song finished, the stream looped it back around to the first song, and I could not tell.But there is impressive playing and I like the jazz sections so I will give it an 8.  

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