It’s always a great thing to watch a band progress their sound over time with many shifting genres and styles altogether over the course of albums and years to make for something that can’t be deemed anything less than a true metamorphosis. Few bands have embodied that over my years of reviewing as Flesh of the Stars has. Starting out very much entrenching in the world of harsh black metal with more than a few injections of doom to make for a raw brand of darkness, their pivot into the progressive doom world was as unexpected as it was well-executed. We’ve seen them travel further down that path since 2017’s fateful “Anhilla”, and it’s now with the arrival of “The Glass Garden” that Flesh of the Stars shows what it means to truly blossom from such an evolution.

Each creation from Flesh of the Stars has seen the act do their best to traverse new sonic territory. Be it the fluidity of “Anhilla” or the experimentation that we really saw take off with “Mercy”, Flesh of the Stars has never been one to tread to the same path twice. That proves the same for “The Glass Garden” with these six tracks seeing the band put forth what could very well be their last piece under this name go for the most dreamlike and atmospheric creation that we’ve seen from them to date. Five tracks are all that adorn “The Glass Garden” but it’s in every possible way that Flesh of the Stars capitalizes on their potential with the full repertoire of the band’s scope on full display to make an experience that is somehow dynamic, hypnotic, transformative, and gripping in equal parts as its intricacies cast a spell upon the listener that is quite compelling. It’s a work that never comes at you directly or beckons you forth. Rather, “The Glass Garden” simply exists with its own will and own energies, all of that acting very much like a shining beacon in the night as we are drawn like moths who could never deny the sweet allure of something so fascinating and captivating. A tremendously layered experience that plays with the finer notes of the soul and tickles the mind’s sense of wanderlust, Flesh of the Stars has crafted something exceptional here with it all but immensely euphoric to the senses and endlessly thrilling to dive into time after time.

Whatever lays in the future for this band, all that they’ve created in the past has always defined them as an embodiment of what it means to challenge yourself and find something that is wholly your own. Even if you find yourself more of a fan of the earlier days of Flesh of the Stars than what it has become, one cannot deny that Flesh of the Stars has immense power focused into a form that is always bringing jaws straight to the floor with “The Glass Garden” being but the latest in that immense streak. Should this be the last effort from the act, it is certainly a magnificent point to close out what’s surely been a fascinating chapter in the lives of both the musicians and their listeners.

LISTEN to “The Glass Garden” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Flesh of the Stars on Facebook here.