Vessel of Light – Last Ride

Vessel of Light

‘Last Ride’

Nomad Eel Records

Doom Metal

FFO: A Pale Horse Named Death, Type O Negative, Alice in Chains

Formed by Hades man Dan Lorenzo and Ancient VVisdom frontman Nathan Opposition, Vessel of Light crawled onto the doom metal scene in 2017 with their superb eponymous EP and equally good debut album ‘Woodshed’ released the following year. Unfortunately, the momentum dropped for their rather lacklustre follow up ‘Thy Serpent Rise’ last year. In an attempt to grab the bull by the horns, Vessel of Light have returned to deliver ‘Last Ride’, their third album in three years.

                Thankfully, it would seem that with ‘Last Ride’, Vessel of Light have found their mojo once more and it can’t be helped wondering whether it is because bassist and drummer Jimmy Schulman and Ron Lipnicki are now fully bedded in and provide an excellent rhythm backbone to this album. We know what Lorenzo and Opposition are capable of writing quality doom metal, but with Schulman and Lipnicki also there, ‘Last Ride’ has a real sense of growth and development that was severely lacking on the previous album. Therefore, what the listener gets with ‘Last Ride’ are those tantalising doom riffs that are heavy on the distortion, fluid melodies and guitar solos dripping with wah coupled with beautiful dual vocal harmonies that give tracks such as ‘There’s No Escape’, ‘Torture King’ and ‘Disappearing Pact’ a real Alice In Chains in vibe if the lyrics were written by Macabre. Furthermore, Vessel of Light know their audience well and because of this, there is still plenty here for fans of Type O Negative and A Pale Horse Named Death. However, ‘Last Ride’ may not be delivered through the best production you will hear all year; but, this is the classic example of an album that doesn’t need one as the song writing prowess pours through.

                ‘Last Ride’ shows Vessel of Light back on top of their game with a collection of really enjoyable songs that really do appeal to the inner serial killer hidden away inside of everybody. It is a real shame that the band are only on an independent label because an album of this quality needs some strong distribution to give it the accolades it so readily deserves.

Adam McCann