YEARNING: PROMETHEAN FATES SEALED

Sometimes I run across albums with artwork that does not seem to fit the music. Yearning: Promethean Fates Sealed, the first full-length album from Chicago-based Fleshvessel, doesn't quite gobsmack me, but it's not really what I was anticipating. Twisting trees made of arms and chasms lined by teeth led me to expect a gruesome onslaught of relentless death or black metal. But instead, this band has put out an impressively diverse, cohesive, and thoughtful record. Yes, there's no shortage of harsh metal here, but there's so much more.

Yearning starts with "Winter Came Early". Gentle piano, mandolin, and violin open this album on a slightly mournful note, but that soon bursts into some surprisingly melodic extreme metal. Piano persists as a high, tinkling arpeggio, which lends a good counterbalance to the heaviness of the rest of this passage. Fleshvessel keeps the listener guessing, though, as flute and violin take the lead in a folky passage. When guitars re-enter the fray, it's in the form of biting black metal, while swirling organ lends a textural richness to the whole affair. When the riffs become a bit more lurching, the band smartly deploys a woozy synth lead to rise above the distorted backing. There's a sense of pandemonium as the song enters its final two minutes. The drums are thunderous, the guitars roar, and piano and violin contribute to this section's strongly off-kilter feel.

Following this stellar opening is the short instrumental interlude "Promethean (Vignette I)". It's an eerie bit of piano music that serves as an effective bit of breathing room.

"A Stain", much like this album's first track, kicks off on a quiet, slightly unsettling instrumental passage, this time with flute and clean guitar taking the lead. As the verse begins, the atmosphere is slow and doomy, with the band again utilizing their wobbly synth lead. Though the dominant elements of this song are the doom metal guitars, Fleshvessel utilizes a number of creative tools subtly in the backing ensemble, including piano and mouth harp. These artful inclusions help to keep this piece interesting.

Around the five-minute mark, this song shifts to a faster tempo and features some more technical playing. The band demonstrates that not only are they creative songwriters, but they're also very skilled instrumentalists. Piano and violin again get a chance to shine during a darkly jazzy passage, while guitar takes a back seat. A spoken word passage ends this song, and it is followed by "Fates (Vignette II)", a 40-second mandolin interlude.

Somber clean guitar, flute, and whispered vocals open "The Void Chamber" with an understated gravity. Things eventually build to a gloomy passage of twisting guitars, dramatic piano, and hoarse vocals; this stretch is a bit melodramatic for my taste at points, but it is by no means bad. I do like how prominent a role jazz plays in this song, as well as the astoundingly diverse array of instruments trotted out on display. In addition to previously-seen wind, key, and string instruments, this cut features a not-insignificant amount of brass. This piece is followed by a third interlude, "Yearning (Vignette III)", a moody piano-and-violin piece.

Fleshvessel concludes Yearning with its longest song, the 17-minute "Eyes Yet to Open". Rumbling death metal starts this song impactfully. Squealing guitar harmonics and stabs of organ lend moments of contrast to this opening cudgel of down-tuned distortion and growls. It's not long before the band's signature synth-led oddness takes center stage, though, and it's just as engrossing as elsewhere. Gentler moments with warm, prominent bass call to mind early prog/tech metal acts, like Atheist.

Around seven minutes in, the song shifts to an extended passage of gentle synth pads. This ethereal soundscape is a moment of hopefulness and serenity amidst all the scouring metal and oddball avant-garde rock previously featured on Yearning.

When the synth pads eventually fade out, bass and organ pick up the lead in the next passage. It's a beautiful, lightly jazzy jam that's quite Floydian. Hoarse vocals are deployed here, for an interesting contrast, and clarinet shows up for a while, too. The album ultimately ends on a bit of spacey piano, which feels like a fitting conclusion.

Fleshvessel's first full-length album is an impressive statement. The four long songs are diverse, inventive, and always interesting. There's a ton to like here, and I'd even recommend this album to people who are normally skeptical of the more extreme end of metal.

Review originally posted here: theeliteextremophile.com/2023/08/14/album-review-fleshvessel-yearning-promethean-fates-sealed/