One track releases, are they a thing? I can honestly say I don't think that I've ever encountered one before. However, here stands FLESHVESSEL with their debut release "Bile Of Man Reborn", with its self-titled singular track running at approximately 25 minutes you can guarantee that this will be something special.

The album artwork, conceived from the combined minds of Carlos Agraz, Kai Movagh and Dennis Pleckham, depicts a disturbing and heelish image. A man's torso, suspended in what appears to be an inferno, his face melting into what appears to be vomit. With no title or band name visible one instantly would be intrigued as to who would produce something so profound. However, the imagery is a very apt depiction of the title of the release.

Opening, closing and continuing the album we have the titular and solo track "Bile Of Man Reborn". Now before I dive into the musical aspects of the track its self I just want to applaud FLESHVESSEL for such a bold move as this, some bands would have broken the segments of track up into a different song, others may have made them recognisable as their own recordings and tracks themselves, however this stance that the band has taken is interesting and I am hoping that it pays off.

With a pronounced and elongated introduction, mysterious and disconcerting, it sets a good foundation to build from. Guitars in the mist comes to mind as they slowly begin to reveal themselves, the music projecting an ethereal presence, it surrounds and engulfs you. Instantly you can recognise the influences of Black / Death / Prog throughout this first section. Musically, there is a lot going on, it is congested and dense and I think that the listener will hear something new every time they were to listen to it.

Take for example some sublime runs and melody with the keyboard around the 4-minute mark. There is just so much going on that you could be forgiven for missing it, the first time... However, I feel that the music came to a natural end at this point and that a second track had started. What a change we have encountered though! From the initial doom and gloom to an 80's inspired trip, the music becomes celestial and synth heavy. It is a far cry from what was initially being played... And, here is the thing... This is still part one of the track.

As we roll forward into part two, a totally instrumental section of music, we are to bear witness to the musical capabilities and knowledge of all members. Suddenly, the stylings have shifted from Heavy Metal and more towards contemporary composers of the 20^th century, a more orchestral style of music is being played. Musically it was very very good... However, it just seemed so bizarrely out of place that, to me, it damaged the flow of the track, perhaps we could see another album, perhaps 'The Contemporary Stylings Of The FLESHVESSEL Conservatoire' in the future? As I think that the styles shown at the beginning of this small section were promising and interesting, if they had been correctly placed.

The instrumental elements ebb and flow in their levels of intensity throughout, giving the listener a chance to build in their emotional development throughout. This section builds toward the third and final part where everything is just let loose and one can feel a wave of release wash over them as the tensions that have built throughout are released and the track winds down from its marathon to its final end.

Overall, this was an interesting release, a bold strategy that does pay off in that the track its self didn't actually feel as though it was that long. However, I feel that was because there are natural ends to the music throughout and in fact, as a listener I broke this down into a number of different tracks with their own beginnings and ends. I will be keeping my eye, or ear, out for more releases from this interesting and promising group!