Fleshvessel – Obstinacy: Sisyphean Dreams Unfolded
Release Date: 12th December 2025
Label: I, Voidhanger Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Avant-garde Black Metal, Progressive Metal.
FFO: Haunter, Demilich, Cynic, Ved Buens Ende, The Mars Volta.
Review By: Eric Wilt
I, Voidhanger Records has long been a sanctuary for the strange, the daring, and the downright unclassifiable in extreme music, and Fleshvessel, who are back with their sophomore album, are among its most adventurous exports. Their 2023 release Yearning: Promethean Fates Sealed was a labyrinthine work—rife with sprawling compositions that were rewarding while not being easily digested. With their new release, Obstinacy: Sisyphean Dreams Unfolded, Fleshvessel once again offers up a record not designed for casual listening. It demands immersion, patience, and a willingness to surrender to its tangled internal logic.
With Obstinacy: Sisyphean Dreams Unfolded, the band plunges even deeper into the surreal terrain that defines their sound. Fleshvessel’s adventurous spirit remains the driving force, with each track feeling like a trek through a dense, overgrown forest where every clearing reveals a new idea sprouting from the underbrush. Stylistically, they continue to defy neat categorization. At their core they play avant-garde black metal, but it’s heavily adorned with flute passages and classical guitar flourishes, as well as clarinet, piano, synthesizer, viola, and a handful of other exotic instruments, not to mention a theatrical flair that sets them apart from their peers.
The vocals are the one element of this album that I have any issue with. The growls and squeals are well-done and fit the songs well, but the falsetto lines, while conceptually intriguing, often sound strained. This is an affectation that doesn’t fully land. The intention is clear, but the execution would likely have benefited from a dedicated female soprano whose natural timbre could have elevated those moments without pulling the listener out of the experience. Even so, Obstinacy: Sisyphean Dreams Unfolded remains a wild ride. It’s challenging, richly textured, and unmistakably the work of a band committed to exploring the furthest boundaries of heavy music. Fleshvessel’s idiosyncrasies may alienate some, but for listeners willing to meet them on their own bizarre wavelength, the album offers a rewarding journey through some of the most inventive and perplexing metal being made today.
(4 / 5)
