Genre: Symphonic/Technical Death Metal
Country: Italy
Label: Nuclear Blast
Year: 2011
Review:
Italy's brutal/symphonic horde, Fleshgod Apocalypse, have returned with what I think is their definitive epic masterpiece, Agony. Having being only their second full length album, the amount of buzz I had been hearing about this album was enough for me to check it out. Their unique blend of technical death metal with symphonic elements have quickly made them a favorite in my extensive music library. After watching a few live performances of them online, and seeing that they can actually pull their songs off live, I see now that they truly mean business.
Agony is ten tracks of total, unrelenting fury. The five men that comprise this group obviously have more than enough skill and talent with their instruments, as one can tell from every track reaching as high as 300 beats per minute. What I'm saying is, this album is one of the fastest albums I have ever heard. I mean we're talking faster than Nile and Behemoth combined. Kicking off the album is the blindingly fast song The Hypocrisy, where in all honesty my first reaction to it was, "Wow! They actually did it! They have perfectly melded brutal/technical death metal with symphonic extreme metal!". I couldn't believe what I was hearing! I have been looking for a band like this for many years and always being let down.
My personal favorite aspect of this band/album isn't just the orchestrations, but Paolo Rossi. He is Fleshgod Apocalypse's bassist/clean vocalist. He really reminds me of ICS Vortex from Dimmu Borgir. Paolo sings in a very high register and his voice is incredibly powerful. He reminds me of an extreme metal opera singer. My favorite songs have to be, The Egoism and The Betrayal. The only track that does not follow the "holy crap that was fast!" formula is the closing title track, which is a soft piano composition. Every track is loaded to the brim with orchestrations and symphonic elements and they are truly masterpieces!
Fleshgod Apocalypse is pushing some major boundaries with this album, and Agony is one of the must-have albums of 2011.
5/5
-A
Give It a Listen!
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