Hello Metalheads, this is John back with yet another early album review!  This technical and progressive juggernaut comes courtesy of Fleshbore. These wizards have a new album coming out in January 24th, 2025 and it is called Painted Paradise.  This is another release from Transcending Obscurity Records who have had some great albums come out under their umbrella over the last few years!  I am a newer listener to this band, but have been stoked since it was announced.  I took one look at the similar bands(The Zennith Passage, Sunmoning the Lich and Archspire just to name a few) and instantly knew I’d be hooked by their music.

This is my first anticipated release of the year and it delivered to a crazy level.  As I am writing this I am on my third listen and there will be many, many more to come.  The musicianship displayed during this whole record is insane.  This album feature a few bass solos which aren’t too typical in my listening except for BTBAM(Between the Buried and Me).  This bass player absolutely shreds over the main riffs that are being played, but much lower so he can be heard more.  He pretty much echoes most of the riffs that the guitar players are playing too!  This bass player(Cole Daniels) is definitely one I am going to follow closely, he plays some wild stuff on this whole record.  The riffs that these guys play have a great balance of being angular and aggressive, melodic and singable but also downright brutal and in the face of the listener.  The vocals on this are raw, brutal and monstrous in nature.  He primarily sticks with great mid and low vocals, but his guttural low and shrieking highs are executed perfectly for stark contrast.  

The first single that we got to hear off of this monster was “Inadequate” and it was one hell of a track to lead with.  It starts off straight in with a brutal rhythmic section with some tasty melodic and technical lines to mix it up.  It sets up a really catchy groove for the rest of the track that is impossible not to just start throwing down too.  This is one of those tracks that has a ton of other stuff going on underneath, but has the same “headbangable” beat throughout.  To the average listener it sounds basic and easy but in all reality it’s technical as hell.  Right before the one minute mark there is a brief reprieve from the brutality with a quick proggy solo with distortion turned down that is melodic and bass more pronounced.  The second half of the track transitions similarly as the track starts, but quickly turns into a more technical and melodic riff.  But this transforms into another progressive section that features a bass solo that absolutely shreds!  

This is one album where the whole thing is fantastic and hard to pick out a standout track.  If I absolutely had to pick one I’d say that it’s the finale LaPlace’s Game!  It has moments of extreme chaos and tech, but also moments of singable riffs and head pounding brutality!  It starts off with a technical and cacophonous harmony between guitars with rapid and chaotic double bass drum and low guttural brutal vocals.  This is broken up with a quick section of a bouncy riff.  Shortly after this repeats a time or two more the true singable riff comes in.  This has the lead playing the melody, the bass shredding well below that and some crazy double bass back again.  This slowly devolves into more chaos before shifting into yet another bass featured section that gets considerably quieter and distortion turned off almost all together in the guitars.  The technical aspects come back after this in full force.  This is quickly followed up by the bouncy riff again which makes me want to head bang like crazy.  This song had such a fun feel to it at times and a quite joking gesture is used by the vocalist.  Out of absolutely no where he gives himself a break and does a double snort like a pig.  This caught me off guard the first time I heard this and made me laugh out loud(quite literally).  This occurs at the 3:08 mark!  By a fun feel I mean that the melody is almost following itself around sometimes and chasing itself.  The band actually said this is what they were going for when I messaged them directly.  

Painted Paradise is my first pre-order and purchase of music this year and it’s fantastic.  It’s without a doubt a 10/10 in every aspect.  The way Fleshbore manage to make things brutal, melodic, progressive and technical in every song(and also in a cohesive manner) is so impressive.  I look forward to future material and also doing quite the deep dive in their older albums!  As always their links to various social accounts will be listed.  Don’t forget to follow Fleshbore, listen and most importantly buy their music if you love it!

https://fleshboreband.bandcamp.com/album/painted-paradise

https://www.facebook.com/share/15Nc98SeC3/?mibextid=wwXIfr

https://music.apple.com/us/artist/fleshbore/1260187233

https://open.spotify.com/artist/4iroXuov1khhAn2C8gndtm?si=hVCDDW7CTgOFZ7pk_yyuJg