Review by Xephyr for Fleshgod Apocalypse - King (2016)

Royal Indecision

Italian Symphonic Death Metallers Fleshgod Apocalypse are a fascinating metal band to discuss and analyze for a multitude of reasons. They occupy an almost solitary niche sub-genre and have gained worldwide notoriety without necessarily gaining glowing fame within the metal world. Apart from Septicflesh, another Symphonic Death Metal band from just across the Ionian Sea in Greece, there haven't been too many other acts that rival the technical speed and prowess as well as the massive visions that Fleshgod has had since Oracles and Agony back in 2009 and 2011 respectively. To some degree they've turned into a party or magic trick, with the live performance of "The Violation" from Agony being something you show uninitiated friends to show them how far one man can push a drum kit. The raw speed and over the top song composition can be wowing at first, but very few seem to take the dive into exploring the band further than hearing how fast the double bass is and calling it a day. This is most likely because Fleshgod and their earlier brand of Brutal Death Metal mixed with imposing and theatrical orchestral sections wasn't all that accessible past showing off "The Violation" or "The Deceit", with most of Oracles and Agony using the same formulas and ideas for their entire run times. Labyrinth saw the band ease away from the brutality a bit, but King is really where a new version of Fleshgod is seen, focusing less on raw speed and more on grand songwriting that fixates on the orchestra more than the Death Metal.

King finally fully reigns in the craziness that they had on Agony and Labyrinth, with the drums pushed back much farther in the mix so it's easier to focus on everything else going on. Which is a necessity since there's a lot to keep track of on this album, whether it's the furious Death Metal drumming and guitar riffs, the soaring orchestra, classical piano, or backing choirs. Fleshgod's claim to fame has always been an overstuffed wall of brutal but opulent sound and it's fantastic to hear that they finally found a production style that is able to tone down the Metal elements enough that everything else is very clear, as it makes the compositions much more interesting on the whole. They even begin to use actual riffs on tracks like "Cold As Perfection" and "Gravity" that hit pretty hard, which is a much needed update from the constant Death Metal 16th note hyper-speed strumming. This presents a new problem for Fleshgod though, since even though they are evolving out of their Brutal Death roots they've replaced it with something that feels like it should be engaging, but it falls short in many ways.

"Too much of a good thing" is a phrase that gets thrown around quite liberally and it's the very foundation that Fleshgod Apocalypse is built on. Their opulent and massive musical style is meant to wow you with its technicality, but after the initial sheen wears off, what's really left? For King, it's a plodding mix of orchestra and Metal coming together to form a generally confused product. They tried very hard to put the orchestra and opera influences in the forefront, especially by including the four minute opera piece "Paramour (Die Leidenschaft Bringt Leiden)" in the middle of the album. The problem is that at the end of the day Fleshgod are still backing up all the interesting orchestration with the same shallow Death Metal riffing and technical but incessant drumming that Francesco Paoli is known for, making most songs sound generally similar and taking any sort of dynamics or open space out of the equation. Funny enough, I think Agony actually succeeded at being too much of a good thing because it was unabashedly and cohesively brutal through its entire runtime, whereas by dialing it back King sits in this strange middle ground of doing too much but also doing too little.

Even though King does so much that amounts to so little, I can't deny there are some fantastic moments in here. The main riff of "Gravity" goes in hard, the slower tempo and added opera parts is "Syphilis" is a great bonus, and "The Fool" really showcases what Fleshgod can do if they try something completely fresh, but the rest of the album falls into this strange realm of exciting monotony. It's an assault on the senses with all the different layers of composition going on, but much of it is the same double-kick with hammering riffs and some orchestra flairs going on in the background. I'm still glad that Fleshgod decided to go down this route though, since there's no point to making another Agony, and this album paved the way for their latest release Veleno, which continues to expand on the more symphonic and less brutal ideas shown here.

I've always enjoyed over the top metal, but sometimes I have to look past the shiny showmanship and seemingly complex compositions and ask if I'm seriously interested or entertained by what's going on, and King is, confusingly, both a yes and a no. By dialing back on the drum volume they created room for more expressive and interesting songs, but ended up creating a dichotomy between the Death Metal and more operatic or symphonic sections, with only a few moments in certain songs having a true and interesting union between the two. If Agony or Oracles was too much Fleshgod for you but you enjoyed the concept though, King may be the album for you since it definitely shows a shift in how the band viewed its songwriting.