Fleshvessel |Obstinacy: Sisyphean Dreams Unfolded |I, Voidhanger Records

Release Date December 12^nd, 2025
Format LP/CD/Digital
Genre Progressive/Death Metal, Avant-garde Metal
Country USA

Fleshvessel is an experimental metal collective hailing from Chicago, Illinois. They made waves in the underground scene with their 2023 debut, "Yearning: Promethean Fates Sealed", introducing a bizarre fusion of extreme metal and obscure instrumentation. The band returns with their sophomore effort, "Obstinacy: Sisyphean Dreams Unfolded", released through the always eccentric I, Voidhanger Records. The lineup features Alexander Torres handling a massive array of instruments alongside Sakda Srikoetkhruen, Troll Hart, Gwyn Hoetzer, and Colin MacAndrew.

The sheer amount of madness packed into these four tracks is hard to process at first. Fleshvessel takes the framework of death metal and mangles it with jazz, black metal, and progressive rock until it looks like something completely different. The music shifts constantly, jerking the listener around with sudden tempo changes and weird harmonic choices. It is technical and demanding, refusing to offer any easy hooks or simple grooves. The band seems dead set on disorienting anyone who listens, creating a sound that is as fascinating as it is confusing.

What makes this album really strange is the gear they use. You expect guitars and drums, but then they throw in flutes, clarinets, a viola, and even a saw or metal spatula. These aren't just background textures; they are right up front, fighting for space with the distortion. The mix of acoustic folk instruments with heavy amplification creates a jarring contrast. One minute it sounds like a chamber orchestra, and the next it descends into total metallic chaos. It gives the album a distinct flavor that you won't find in a standard death metal release.

The vocals match the insanity of the music. The performance swings wildly between deep, guttural roars and high-pitched screams that border on hysteria. With songs running between nine and sixteen minutes, there is a lot of ground to cover. The band crams a thousand ideas into every minute, making the album feel dense. It requires a lot of patience to get through the longer sections, as the constant shifting prevents you from settling into a rhythm. It is an exhausting listen, but the technical skill on display is undeniable.

The concept here revolves the myth of Sisyphus, and the music reflects that endless struggle. It is a stubborn, difficult record that refuses to compromise. While the constant barrage of noise and changes might be too much for some, fans of the weird and avant-garde will dig into the complexity. It is a worthy follow-up to their debut, offering a challenging experience for anyone looking for something far outside the norm.

Score: 7.5

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Disaffected |Spiritual Humanized Technology |Larvae Records/Firecum Records

Release Date: November 10, 2025

Format: CD/Vinyl

Genre: Progressive Death Metal

Country: Portugal

Disaffected was formed in 1991 in Portugal, starting as a death/thrash metal band before moving toward a more progressive and demanding direction. Their debut album “Vast” in 1995 became a landmark of the Portuguese underground, even gaining exposure through MTV. After “Rebirth” in 2012 and “The Trinity Threshold” in 2017, the band returns with their fourth full length, “Spiritual Humanized Technology”, released through Larvae Records and Firecum Records.

“Spiritual Humanized Technology” works as a conceptual album, focused on the tension between humanity and technology, life and renewal. The music follows a progressive death metal path, marked by long compositions, shifting structures and a strong sense of atmosphere. Darkness is always present, but it is balanced by groove and space, giving the album an expansive character that fits its thematic scope.

The writing favors evolution over immediacy. Songs such as “Soul And Words”, “The Stream We Abide” and “Here In Alpha” unfold gradually, allowing ideas to develop and return in altered forms. This approach gives the album a thoughtful pace and a clear internal logic, making the listening experience immersive without becoming confusing. The band’s past in death metal remains visible, though it is filtered through a more reflective and exploratory lens.

Lyrically, Disaffected step away from narrow extremes and focus on broader questions. Topics like existence, decay, rebirth and the role of technology in human identity appear throughout the album. This gives “Spiritual Humanized Technology” a philosophical edge that matches the layered songwriting, reinforcing the progressive character not only in sound, but also in meaning.

Production is solid and detailed, allowing the music’s darker tones and rhythmic depth to come through clearly. The album demands attention and patience, rewarding repeated listens with new connections and nuances. Taken as a whole, “Spiritual Humanized Technology” stands as a strong and mature chapter in Disaffected’s discography.

Score: 8.0

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Sun Of The Suns | Entanglement | Scarlet Records

Release Date: 12 December 2025

Format: CD/Digital

Genre: Progressive/Technical/Death Metal

Country: Italy

Sun Of The Suns emerged in 2021 with “Tiit”, an introduction that placed them among the more adventurous names in modern extreme metal. The Italian band built their identity on cosmic themes, heavy rhythmic patterns, and a futuristic sonic palette. “Entanglement” continues that path with a much broader scope, shaped by a strengthened lineup and a stronger narrative core. The production by Simone Mularoni keeps every element sharp and readable, giving the album a steady pulse that suits its vast atmosphere.

The band leans into cosmic existential aggression with determination, pairing brute force with melodic lines that carry emotional weight without softening the impact. Luca Scarlatti delivers vocals that cut through the mix with control, sometimes harsh and other times strained in a way that matches the album’s tension. The guitar work from Marco Righetti and Ludovico Cioffi moves between heavy rhythmic stomps and spiraling leads that lift the songs into a more otherworldly zone. Francesco Paoli’s drumming brings a high technical level, fast enough to keep the energy strong and precise enough to maintain order inside the chaos.

The writing takes a journey through destruction, introspection, and cosmic isolation, and the band approaches these ideas with a sense of scale that fits the theme. The shorter tracks work as bursts of intensity, while the longer ones let the narrative expand. The title track, “Entanglement”, unfolds like an entire story by itself, climbing gradually into a massive section that ties together everything the band explores throughout the album. Despite the celestial angle, the music always stays grounded in aggression, offering plenty of moments that hit hard without sacrificing atmosphere.

“Entanglement” shows Sun Of The Suns growing into their own identity. The album brings modern death metal brutality with a cosmic twist, delivered with seriousness and a commitment to world building. Every section feels intentional and tightly shaped, always pushing the album forward without losing focus. It is a strong continuation of their path and a clear sign that the band aims high.

Score: 7.5

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Edge Of Sanity | Crimson II | Century Media Records (Remixed & Remastered)

Release Date: August 8, 2025

Format: 2CD/LP

Genre: Progressive/Death Metal

Country: Sweden

Edge Of Sanity was always the wild brainchild of Dan Swanö, a musician who treated death metal like a big playground full of strange machines and emotional traps. By the early 2000s the band name had become his personal workshop, a place where no rule mattered and every idea could be pushed to extremes. “Crimson II” arrived in 2003 as the last chapter in that story, a sequel to the legendary “Crimson” narrative and a full solo creation, built from Swanö’s imagination, sweat and sleepless nights. Two decades later, it returns through Century Media with a fresh remaster and a full remix that brings this labyrinth of progressive death metal back into the world with renewed force.

This new edition presents “Crimson II” as a continuous storm, divided into titled passages like “The Forbidden Words”, “Incantation” and “Aftermath”. The music moves with a steady pulse, growing wider or sharper depending on the moment, always driven by Swanö’s personal writing. The remaster opens the door to details that were buried before, sharpening the edges without turning the sound into something modern or artificial. The remix on the second disc stands on its own, clearer and heavier, almost like a parallel universe version of the same story. Hearing both approaches side by side gives the album an interesting dual life, one rooted in its original character and one shaped through fresh 2025 engineering.

The atmosphere across the album pulls the listener into its long narrative without drifting or snapping the thread. Swanö’s vocals grind, soar or narrate depending on the moment, while the guitarwork moves confidently between aggression and dramatic tension. When “Covenant Of Souls” or the “Aftermath” sections arrive, the energy rises naturally and shows how carefully each shift was considered back in 2003. The added performances on the remix disc, especially the extra vocals and solos, give an alternate reading that honors the core identity of the album. Nothing’s ornamental, everything drives the overarching tale forward.

“Crimson II” remains one of those rare metal releases where the ambition is sky high and the execution holds it together from start to finish. This 2025 edition respects the original spirit, gives the sound a stronger body and invites listeners old and new to dive back into Swanö’s universe. It is an intense narrative journey with the kind of stubborn personality that defined Edge Of Sanity from the start, delivered here with renewed impact. Any fan of progressive death metal will recognize how much craft and imagination lives inside these movements, even after twenty two years.

Score: 8.0

Voidceremony | Abditum | 20 Buck Spin

Release Date: November 14th, 2025

Format: CD/LP/Tape/Digital

Genre: ProgDeath Metal

Country: USA

Voidceremony has always moved on the edges of reason, where technical precision collides with abstract chaos. Formed around the restless mind of Garrett Johnson, also known as Wandering Mind, the band has carved a distinct identity in the underground by merging death metal’s aggression with the free-thinking patterns of jazz and progressive music. Their previous works introduced this strange, contorted world, but “Abditum” makes it more compact and direct, a feverish half-hour of twisted design and grim philosophy.

On “Abditum”, Voidceremony continues their cosmic descent, twisting death metal’s framework into strange, unexpected shapes. Johnson’s guitar work spirals into uncharted territory, dissonant but thoughtful, never chaotic for its own sake. Jayson McGehee (The Archonoclast) complements this with sharp interplay, weaving between riffs that sound like collapsing geometry. The rhythm section, driven by Dylan Marks on drums and the deep, pulsing bass lines from Damon Good and Ben Ricci, gives the music a sense of shifting gravity, like tectonic plates beneath an alien sky.

The production is crisp enough to let every warped layer emerge, but retains a rawness that keeps it human and physical. Each passage unfolds as if the band is excavating sound from some buried dimension, where logic bends and decay becomes beauty. There’s a constant feeling of motion, a kind of spiraling energy that seems to both rise and sink at once.

“Abditum” plays like a labyrinth, full of sudden turns and vanishing exits. It’s an album that rewards immersion, where precision meets chaos, and every return listen uncovers new patterns hiding under the surface. The riffs are jagged, the drums unpredictable, and the atmosphere suffocatingly intricate. The effect is hypnotic, an unending drift through voids of thought and sound.

The artwork by Khuzuzu mirrors this perfectly. Abstract, obscure, and otherworldly, a fitting visual for a band whose sound never sits still. Voidceremony continues to expand their strange world, refusing simplicity and inviting the listener into something that feels ancient and futuristic at the same time.

Score: 8.0

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