Nuclear Blast - 2013
After 2011's Agony, Fleshgod Apocalypse became a force to be reckoned within the metal community. Sure, Orales and Mafia were quite well received, but jumping to Nuclear Blast for Agony and the sonic shift that accompanied it made them much more of a household name so to speak. I personally gushed all over Agony when it was released but found myself more drawn to their back catalog after the initial 'spark' of Agony had disappeared a few months after it's release. This was mostly due to the flat production of Agony and the shift that saw the band surrendering all of the interesting musicianship from the guitars to the synths. Still, when Labyrinth was announced, you could toss my name in among the many to set skyscraper-level expectations and the earlier release of the track "Elegy" did nothing to change that. Now after listening to this an embarrassing large number of times this week, I feel comfortable saying that Labyrinth pretty much wipes the floor with Agony and sees the band at the absolute top of their game.
Instead of simply being Agony part II, Labyrinth cranks up everything in the band's arsenal up to 11. The orchestration is notably more epic in scale, with more operatic vocals in place from Veronic Bordacchini. While Agony had a slight concept to it, Labyrinth tells the tale of the Labyrinth of Knossos and has a very unified feel to it. Most importantly, the guitars, which felt slightly neutered last time around, have found their way back into the mix. The union of the orchestra and the guitarwork is much more synchronized and it seems the band has found a way to create a middle ground between that of Oracles and Agony. Don't get me wrong, the orchestra has certainly strengthened itself and sounds fantastic, but instead of the guitars just surrendering and chugging along (as they frequently did on Agony) they occasionally pick up the harmonies and it is goosebump-inducing (see "The Fall of Asterion" or "Under Black Sails" for the best results of this).
In terms of the songs themselves, Fleshgod Apocalypse have not lost their love of speed but they are beginning to learn when to kick things down a notch. Burners like "Elegy" (the most Agony-like track on the record), "Kingborn" and "Warpledge" sees Francesco Pauli's blasting, seemingly inhuman drum work at it's best. There's just something to be said for the slower numbers, like "Epilogue" and "Minotaur" that forgo the usual balls to the wall speed and trade it in for more atmospheric bludgeoning. Fleshgod at slower pace just has a crushing sound to it. "Minotaur" in particular has such grandeur and scope I feel like it should have been included somewhere in the last God of War game. Of course, in Fleshgod tradition, the album closes out with the title-track piano piece, which provides some needed reflection time at the finish.
If Labyrinth does face one problem, it's that it is a very densely packed and ambitious listen. This is basically a death metal opera. Don't expect to truly "get it" for a number of spins. There is so much going on at any given moment that the first few listens to it as a whole left me somewhat disappointed. You've got thunderous drumming, operatic singing, orchestration, bass lines, guitar leads, and growls all competing for your attention in a very compressed space. There is no track like "The Violation", which immediately catches the ear, on this record due to it's more unifying theme. This is the type of album that high-quality headphones were made for. It demands an active listener in order to give you the complete version of itself but it is ultimately the more rewarding for it. I've listened to this at least 20 times at this point and I'm still discovering new things in some of the songs and am changing up favorite tracks on a regular basis.
Despite the initial overwhelming nature of Labyrinth, it's obvious that Fleshgod Apocalypse set out to really raise the bar with this one. While they are certainly not the only ones to use an orchestrated sound (a style that seems to be growing in leaps and bounds over the years), they are the ones that have lately set the standard for it. With all of the copycat and sound alike bands out there, especially in the technical death scene, you can hear a Fleshgod song and immediately identify it. They have become masters of their craft and I can only wonder how they will eventually top this one. I'm all but certain this will be one of the best metal albums you'll hear this year.
