Non-stop musical madness

New York progressive metal band The Final Sleep has been in the music scene since 2006, and earlier this month the band released their second full-length album: Vessels of Grief. The music is outstanding, Jeff Andrews’s vocals impact each track with great authority, the guitar played by Andrews, Mike Stack, Kevin Maloney and Jay VanDervoort fills the atmosphere with soul-shaking riffs and the drumming by Mike Van Dyne keeps the things together with solid drum beats. The Final Sleep uses its skills to create powerful metal music.

The opening piece “Screaming in Silence” welcomes listeners with a heavy jolt of Van Dyne’s drum playing. Right off the bat, the sound of solid drum beats comes through, crashing in the background. The absolute best part of this is how Van Dyne constantly switches his drumming style from metal to rock. The mix of different drum beats does bring excitement to this composition. “Screaming in Silence” kicks things off with Van Dyne drumming his heart out.

The dark “Until It Ends” is well written, and has incredible lyrics that describe how serious life can be for those who continue to suffer in their dark world. “Taken to extremes/Blinded from disease/Hatred for all mankind/Suffer living til the end” shows how some people are struggling within the darkness of their world because they feel hope is not achievable due to how painful life is for them. “Until It Ends” is a well-written tune that describes how some people are having a hard time finding peace while waiting to leave this world.

Mesmerizing “Pale Whisper” has a killer vocal performance from Andrews. What is noticeably enjoyable is how Andrews carries himself as a vocalist, as he switches to lower and higher vocals pitches throughout. Additionally, Andrews’s vocals mix in with the harmonic to bring out the wild side of metal and highlights his strengths as a musician.

“Soul in Between” is a blazing track with a combination of guitar riffs by Andrews, Stack and Maloney. All three guitarists start to play slow riffs before blasting the ears off of their listeners with face-smacking, vein-jolting riffs. This track displays how talented Andrews, Stack and Maloney are as guitarists.

The ever thunderous, “Funeral Seed” is another ear bleeder which has VanDervoort loudly playing his bass guitar. While listening, the deep vibrations radiate through the speakers, while VanDervoort emerges from the background, with deep riffs that are being played on a faster musical tempo. The faster VanDervoort performs with his guitar, the more fun it is to hear this song. “Funeral Seed” will cause people to headbang while VanDervoort dazzles their minds with sharp bass guitar riffs.

Closing track “Eternal” ends things on a high note with mind-dazzling instrumentation and vocals. The guitars and drums resemble progressive metal due to how each riff and drum beat sizzles in the air with a high strung sound. Andrews’s vocal performance remains strong and authoritative while he shouts out the lyrics.

The Final Sleep have their hands full with Vessels of Grief.  The music fills the heart with epic noises that leave fans wanting to hear more.