“The thrill offsets the outcome.“
Fleshwater last graced the Boolin Tunes homepage with the excellent We’re Not Here to Be Loved in 2022. My personal AOTY, it committed wholesale to a modernized yet nostalgic sound which made it incredibly effective. One remix EP later with Sounds of Grieving, they return with a much-anticipated follow-up LP. All the whole, no noise has emanated from the Vein.fm camp, which shares most members with Fleshwater. The latter has got more attention since their debut, much to the chagrin of those who preferred Vein.fm and their lastest effort. Could this be the album to bridge the gap and demonstrate why the attention has shifted?
If opener “Drowning Song” serves as any indication, the probable answer is no. While passages with heavier guitar riffs enter the fray, the focal points remain Mirzy‘s hazy vocals and reverb-washed instrumentals. It makes for a short taste, but the real main course is the subsequent track “Green Street”. An example of one of many of the more fleshed-out tracks (in comparison to a large chunk of their prior album), it stands mostly as a furthering as existing Fleshwater sounds. The groovy outro proves to be the biggest left turn here, but all that said, this track does the job as well as any.
Re-examine this,
Shut your eyes again.
Seven years of unrest,
Does it end like this?
Lead single “Jetpack” gave the first taste of what to expect and in that way represents the album well. It starts off with a bright riff, juxtaposed with some dour lyrical themes and darker guitar sections to follow. Anthony DiDio features on some prominent vocal sections, but we stay rooted in the alternative metal side of the house. Mirzy shows up with a strong final verse with a return to the brighter instrumentation, making for a fine sample but won’t convert most non-believers.
I noticed you weren’t listening, heart beating,
You turn your eyes, another way to say goodbye.
The worst part is always the look on your own face: nowhere but down.
Is there somewhere else you would rather be but home?
“Last Escape” follows with another single-ready track. The vocal interplay between Mirzy and DiDio fits in quite naturally amongst the backdrop. It comes off as prime nostalgia bait, sounding out of time right down to the music video filmed in a mall. It’s quite self-contained in that way, and again in contrast to the debut, three of the four first here are fully-realized proper songs, avoiding one of my primary previous criticisms. The seguing between passages functions quite effectively, especially with the twinkling outro punctuated by slow guitar sweeps.
“Be Your Best” begins a run at the album’s midsection where individual tracks perhaps become harder to distinguish. We have many variations on a theme, and that theme remains largely static. With that said, this iteration, built around a low, looping guitar lick, performs its part handily. Mirzy again gives a strong performance, and the experimentation with layers of her voice makes for a nice effect. “Jerome Town”, on the other hands, bursts out of the gate with a loud riff before calling back to the prior track. DiDio takes the lead here, acting as the foil, both sonically and lyrically. A neat trick, it leads to a duet before a smattering of unclean vocals in its outro.
“Sundown” and “Raging Storm” follow a somewhat similar model with spacier tracker/heavy track, which lead into the final couplet. Our esteemed editor Dobbin called “Silverine” “their Christmas song”, which describes the mood perfectly. After a sparse guitar intro and Mirzy‘s soft vocals on the first vocals, the sleigh bells mark the rising action to carry us home, which fall away as it leads into the final track. Closer “The Endless Sky” picks up the tempo and serves as the long climax. Here, Fleshwater pull from the trusty back of tricks and deliver another dual-vocal heavy effort, surrounded by loud guitars and pummeling drums. It ends with about 30 seconds of feedback before dropping off.
In the same way that the exact draw to We’re Not Here to Be Loved was a bit nebulous, I find it hard to verbalize exactly where 2000: In Search of the Endless Sky falls short of its predecessor. Just about every track stands on its own merit here, picking up well on the sound and aesthetic while also driving in new directions. Still, there’s more to explore, and that some of the variety and cohesion was lost proved to me a sticking point.
Of course, to say that 2000 fails in any major way would be to overstate things. Fleshwater delivered a strong sophomore record with highlights worthy of returning to a long way down the road. Mirzy in particular remains a topflight lead vocalist and one of their major distinguishing factors. Even if not necessarily AOTY 2025, it does prove an album worth remembering.
8/10
Fleshwater – 2000: In Search of the Endless Sky comes out this Friday, September 5th on Closed Casket Activities with pre-orders here.