From Ohio, Vessel has put out this nine song EP on new label, Burning Records.
This release is a hard listen, with slow songs and a very, very bad recording. Playing a generic form of metalcore, Vessel just doesn't leave a good impression with this EP. To start with, the whole recording is very flat sounding with songs that are painfully slow in developing. The overall presentation makes it very hard to keep this CD on. The snare is bad, but the bass drum is 10x's worse that with every beat I can't help but cringe. It sounds like the kick drum is being struck with spoons and they fail to provide any sort of rhythmic backbone. For as bad as the bass drum is, the vocals are worse, with a singer whose growl is closer sounding to someone with an illness than someone who is belting out the lyrics. At times reverb is brought into the vocals, which only makes things worse. The guitars are very soft that doesn't break the overall theme of the album. At some points the music slows so much that I can picture the members in the studio looking to each other with an expression on their face that reads "ok, now what?" The sound occasionally just drops away like the microphone was taken into another room. Even the acoustic guitar part in the song "Love" sounds out of tune. This album is just painful to the listener. This is truly hardcore, that is hard to listen to.
D-
Other coverage for this album
HM Magazine #89Reviewed by Doug Van PeltMeaty, straight-ahead punk of the hardcore variety. Plenty of metal toughness is present - the kind of muscle-bound hardcore that is exemplified by bulging veins in the forehead and neck, and spit flying everywhere. Make sure you clear a wide empty space in your room before playing this album, cause you might break stuff.The Phantom Tollbooth 2000Reviewed by Michial FarmerWith a band name like Vessel and a label name like Burning Records, what else could this be but hardcore? Now, it's pretty much no secret that I'm not a big fan of the genre (see my Tollbooth review of Selfmindead if you don't believe me), but every once in awhile, a hardcore band will put out an album that blows my little Georgian mind. So where does Vessel fit into this equation? Somewhere in…
