Stirring from a creeping lilt into a frictional sprawl, Symphonic Black Metal artisans Saille usher in their fourth album, Gnosis. Its predecessor, Eldritch (both Aural/code666) made great strides to establish this cerebral aggressor as an act of pedigree and violence; a burgeoning reputation that this darker, more ferocious offspring will serve only to further.Continue reading
The heaviest metal festival in the history of Scotland is right around the corner as Heavy Scotland is set to kick off April 1st and 2nd at the Corn Exchange in Edinburgh. Behemoth is headlining in a UK Exclusive performance, along with Arch Enemy, Finntroll, Blaze Bailey, Destruction, Havok, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Grave, Warbringer and more! Continue reading
Over the years, I have heard people mention that the earliest forms of heavy metal came from what is now known as classical music. With that in mind, Fleshgod Apocalypse have once again put together an album with equal elements of death metal and symphonic elements. King (Nuclear Blast) builds off of previous releases from the Italian metal outfit and certainly went for it all on this album. From the instrumental ‘March Royale’ to the closing piano outro of the title track, Fleshgod Apocalypse will have you head banging and then picking your jaw up off the ground.
King was a hard album to try and narrow down on favorites. I liked the tracks that were overly death metal, but also loved the overly symphonic songs with epic choruses. ‘Healing Through War’ is a great mix of both. The syncopation of all of the elements throughout the song give you that death metal feel but keep you grounded with the piano and over the top symphony orchestration. For the fans who love the slow, heavy tracks, ‘Cold As Perfection’ absolutely slays. The chugging guitars (and accompanying orchestration) over the consistent double bass attack will certainly get your neck cranking. ‘And The Vulture Beholds’ may be the best track on the whole album as it blends in more death metal elements with over the top orchestration which culminates to some of the most epic passages I have heard in quite awhile. Around the three minute mark is where most fans will collectively shit themselves if this song makes the cut for a live set.
All in all, King is a solid album that could see its way onto my Top 20 come year end depending on how the rest of this year pans out (yes it is still early, but believe the hype!) The downside of the album was the track ‘Paramour (Die Leidenshaft Bringt Leiden)’ based on its placement in the middle of the album. Perhaps it would have been suited at the tail end of the album in place of ‘King’. The song itself is actually quite enjoyable, but it just brings the flow of the album to a screeching halt for almost four minutes and then picks back up. Regardless, Fleshgod fans will certainly enjoy this record even if only for the improvement of the mix/production from the last album.
7.5/10
TIM LEDIN
[amazon asin=B019A78T4M&template=iframe image1]
Symphonic technical death metal leaders Fleshgod Apocalypse are releasing their new album, King, (Nuclear Blast) this winter. The band is streaming their new single, the first from King entitled ‘The Fool’. You can stream ‘The Fool’ at this link or below:
‘The Fool’ will be available for purchase on January 1st, along with pre-orders of King as well. The band has commented on the single:
“‘The Fool’ is one of the craziest songs of the album and we felt like it was a perfect way to let people approach our new work. It’s a song without compromises and because of the character it is about, we had the chance to get into a profound matter that concerns us all.”
Recorded at Kick Recording and 16th Cellar studios in Rome, King was mixed and mastered Jens Bogren (Amon Amarth, At The Gates, Arch Enemy) at Fascination Street studio in Sweden. Artwork was created by acclaimed album artist Eliran Kantor (Testament, Iced Earth, Kataklysm, Hatebreed). The band has also booked a tour of North America for this winter.
King tracklisting:
01. Marche Royale
02. In Aeternum
03. Healing Through War
04. The Fool
05. Cold As Perfection
06. Mitra
07. Paramour (Die Leidenschaft bringt Leiden)
08. And The Vulture Beholds
09. Gravity
10. A Million Deaths
11. Syphilis
12. King
Bonus Orchestral CD (digipak only):
01. Marche Royale
02. In Aeternum
03. Healing Through War
04. The Fool
05. Cold As Perfection
06. Mitra
07. And The Vulture Beholds
08. Gravity
09. A Million Deaths
10. Syphilis
Formats for King:
Digipak (incl. bonus orchestral CD)
CD
Digipak + TS bundle (various sizes)
[amazon asin=B01952RYDE&template=iframe image]
While Italian death metal has never been able to get a word in edgeways when competing with its rivals from Sweden or the USA, the genre is in ruder health these days due to the international success of acts such as Fleshgod Apocalypse and Hour of Penance. This resurgence in fortunes has led to a few old hands reforming for another crack of the whip and Tuscan stalwarts Humangled are one of them. Prodromes of a Flatline (Bakerteam) is the group’s second effort since 2010’s Fractal (Abyss) turned a few heads. So is it enough to gain them a seat at the big boys table?
Unfortunately the answer is a definite no. While their strand of death metal certainly packs a punch, most noticeably on opening track ‘Liberté, Égalité, Brutalité’, there is not only too little going on throughout Prodromes of a Flatline to merit repeated spins, but crucially nothing to make the band stand out from the crowd. There’s not enough of the technicality of Nile, the brutality of Cryptopsy or the catchiness of Deicide, so we are left with a rather unappetising lumpen stew of the most bog standard elements of death metal, bereft of flavour and passion.
Too often it feels that the band is just going through the motions, often with some rather forced and clumsy transitions between parts that really should have been ironed out in the recording studio. At worst they come across as simply derivative as on the Death-aping ‘Intimacy Curse’ and God knows what possessed them to record such a horrible cover of ‘To Mega Therion’ and tack it on the end of the record. At best they’re a support band that tries hard for twenty-five minutes with the occasional half-catchy riff. However, in this day and age, it’s certainly not worth reforming for
5.0/10
JAMES CONWAY
70000 Tons of Metal Cruise 2015, by MasterPhelps Photography
“The World’s Biggest Heavy Metal Cruise” the 70000 Tons of Metal Cruise has announced the first 10 bands for their 2016 cruise. So far the bands slated to perform are At The Gates, Delain, Dragonforce, Firewind, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Iced Earth, Lacuna Coil, Moonspell, and Turisas. The cruise takes place from February 4th to 8th 2016, and departs from Miami/Ft. Lauderdale Florida setting a course for an as yet to be named destination, before returning again. Tickets are on sale and updates are available from the cruise’s website:
70000 Tons of Metal on Facebook
70000 Tons of Metal on Twitter
70000 Tons of Metal on YouTube
70000 Tons of Metal on Instagram
Bloodstock Festival (aka Bloodstock Open Air or BOA) has added five more bands to its already stacked line-up for 2015. New to the bill are reformed sludge metallers Raging Speedhorn, prog-metal exports Xerath, Trepalium, Villainy and Godsized. Taking place August 6th – 9th at Walton on Trent, Derbyshire UK. Tickets are on sale now by phone (24hr ticketline at 0871 230 5584 )or online and include an array of camping and VIP ticket options. Camper van pitches are now all sold out.
Already announced to the bill over four massive stages are major acts such as Friday’s headliner Trivium and special guests Sabaton, Saturday’s headliner Within Temptation and special guests Opeth, Sunday’s headliner Rob Zombie and special guests Black Label Society, also Cannibal Corpse, Ihsahn, Sepultura, Orange Goblin, Death T.A, Nuclear Assault, 1349, Napalm Death, Dark Angel, Armored Saint, Belphegor, Overkill, Ensiferum, Agalloch, Korpiklaani, Pro-Pain, Enslaved, Wolf, Delain, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Godflesh, Lawnmower Deth, Mordred, Ethereal, Onslaught, Oaf, Pritchard Vs Dainton, Conan, Planet Of Zeus, Bast, Saille, Batallion, Destrage with more bands to be announced in the coming weeks.
With a diverse line up already boasting Trivium, Opeth, Within Temptation, Napalm Death, Rob Zombie, Sabaton and Cannibal Corpse, Bloodstock 2015 has unleashed a head-smashing announcement that UK Industrial Metal legends Godflesh will headline the second stage, the Sophie Lancaster Stage on Sunday 9th August. Delain and Fleshgod Apocalypse will headline the Friday and Saturday respectively.
Main support to Godflesh will be UK Speed Metal veterans Onslaught who are enjoying something of a revival these days, and they will be accompanied by Greek Stoner Kings Planet of Zeus.
Elsewhere Bast and Conan have also been confirmed as additions.
The festival runs from 6-9 August 2015.
Big 69 Festival Heavy Metal Pilgrimage has added Carcass as their headliner for the 2015 edition. The event is a two day event, happening January 17 and 18, 2015 at Richardson and Cruddas, Mumbai in India. Watch the trailer for the festival here.
The previously announced lineup already includes:
Fleshgod Apocalypse
SikTh
Hacktivist
Underside
Plague Throat
Albatross
Providence
Demonic Resurrection
Gutslit
Devoid
Inner Sanctum
Chronic Xorn
Grammy Winning Effort
Escher’s Knot
Undying Inc
Noiseware
Zygnema
