THE BEAST

 THE FINAL SLEEP - Vessels Of Grief - Reviewed At STORMBRINGER ! Check it out here at this link: https://www.stormbringer.at/reviews/17851/the-final-sleep-vessels-of-grief.html

Potz Blitz. THE FINAL SLEEP, beautiful metaphor for death anyway or actually not (more on that follows) from Troy in the beautiful state of New York have existed since 2006, but revealed their first Langrille only in 2017.
The cover is now really successful. It shows the Greek god of healing, Asclepius or Aesculapius, surrounded by healers. The good Asclepius, for his part the best doctor far and wide, a half-god, even went so far as to raise the dead again, with which Hades did not agree at all, because that's just not how it really works. Zeus, who was also not so the diplomat, hurled one of his infamous lightning bolts at Asclepius and thus the case was settled, the divine order was restored and it was allowed to continue to die cheerfully.
That's a nice story, but unfortunately it's not true. The humble reviewer was lured on the wrong track due to the pseudo-Aesculapian staff. The picture painted by Adolf Hirémy-Hirsch in 1898 shows Acheron, the lord of the dead river Acheron, who was banished to the underworld for giving the Titans to drink in the fight against Zeus. His new job was to lead the souls of the deceased into the shadow realm.

"Screaming In Silence": The intro breaks too abruptly into the ear cups and in the first three minutes the rhythm is too static for me, but it is still a good song, because especially the second half is very successful and the two vocal voices, the growling is used very discreetly, are fine. The dosage is not yet 100 percent correct.

"Until It Ends": Rhythmically the same path is followed here. I think it's because of the very straight played 8/4 bars. Surprisingly, the song gets better towards the end.

"Pale Whisper": Okay, okay, THE FINAL SLEEP have a surprise in store. Good intro, clean vocals undermined by very deep growling. When both voices intonate, the song is very fine. During the second half of the song it gets harder again, but the outro is nicely melodious, without unnecessary technical banter, which would not have fit the intro.

"Soul In Between": Beautiful intro that sounds like old-style metal and modern metal are being hybridized. Here it is again, this straight, static 8/4 rhythm, although I have to admit that the two-part singing in its divergence is very appealing. The song at 7:44 minutes could have offered a bit more than a very okay interlude, but so be it.

"Funeral Seed": The intro comes to me again a bit too brutal around the corner, but is replaced by a good interlude and good singing, whereby the repeated use of 8/4 bars, oh dear readers, everything is said. The song forms an inverted climax. The very long solo leads to an equally long outro, even that has something of static suspension.

"Eternal": Unfortunately, the lyrics were not included, I think "Vessels of Grief" is a concept album that leads the doomed from their languishing to the transmigration of souls under the guidance of Acheron to the non-nuclear repository in Hades. I suspect "Eternal" is, so to speak, a dialogue or formation of different points of view, namely the In-den-Hades-zu-Leader and Acheron. Musically, there is little new to explain here.

Conclusion: Sits, fits and has air. With regard to this statically floating rhythm, it should not be mentioned: Could it not be that THE FINAL SLEEP used this trick to musically shape the disappearance of souls into Hades, so to speak, or is it overinterpretation? - STORMBRINGER

Release Date: February 4, 2022

FFO: Opeth, Edge of Sanity, Control Denied

Location: Troy, N.Y.

The Final Sleep - melodic/progressive death metal from Troy, N.Y. for fans of Opeth, Edge of Sanity, and Control Denied. Features founding members of Arsis and Burning Human. New 6 song/40 min album Vessels of Grief out on February 4, with two advance tracks (“Screaming in Silence” and “Until it Ends”) currently available on the TFS Bandcamp.

Support the band on Bandcamp!