Album Review: Vesseles – Home

Home is filled with endless and flawless creativity and talent.

Symphonic black metal band Vesseles released their album, Home, on January 16 and as a whole, it is fabulous by how each track expands upon the album’s identity-driven lyrics and the never-ending myth of belonging, alienation and ultimate reclamation of power. The album is mainly about survival and how it transcendences into an unflinching focus of self through sound.

Kicking this off is “Flesh Throne” and what is really neat is how the melodic instrumentation creates a soul-shaking and eye-catching symphony that welcomes listeners to Vesseles’ crazy world where musical havoc continues to rein in the darkness. What also shines on this are the vocal performances because each raspy and gritty vocal tone brings a jarring vibe that compliments the dark theme on “Flesh Throne.”

The title track “Home” is a bit different from the previous tune thanks to the elegant piano and string playing filling the air with a elegant and classy sound before the in-your-face guitar and drum playing steals the show with great and surging power. Another neat thing about “Home” are the different vocal styles. Right at the start, the sounds of operatic vocal performances can be heard before switching to the authoritative styles the vocalists are known for. “Home” is a great piece of musical art.

“They Are Dust” is a darker and much harder composition because of  how the symphonic black metal brings a spicy harmonic vibe that blends in with deep and maddening vocal performances. The deep harmonies add a dramatic affect that creates a feeling of fear and anger. “They Are Dust”  should be a movie soundtrack considering how the instrumentations builds up a dramatic sensation of danger and revenge that can be found in action and horror movies. “They Are Dust” brings a blistering cinematic vibe that dazzles the mind of those who are listening.

Closing out Home is “This is not Home” and everything ends on a creative high note because the band brings back the elegant piano play at the beginning, while a male’s voice speaks honest words as the drum playing creates a solid rock sound before both vocalists scream out the lyrics. The mix of the symphonic music and the dynamic vocal performances gives this piece a strong kick of solidarity and mayhem.

Surely, Vesseles will be shaking people’s veins live when they play each track from Home and honestly, Vesseles does have what it takes to survive today’s music scene and their fans can agree as well.