By J.C. Green
Occasionally we face some bands that despite having been active for a while suddenly conquer the music world with one album. This is the case with Italian symphonic extreme metal band Fleshgod Apocalypse. Their breaktrough album “Agony” released in 2011, shook the metal world with their almost perfect combination of symphony and extreme metal, creating what could be described as the perfect chaos. And I said almost, because even though “Agony” was one of the best releases from 2011, there was room for improvement, and the band recognized it. This led us to their new album titled “Labyrinth” where we can safely say that the guys reached the perfection they were aiming for.
“Labyrinth” presents a metaphoric story inspired by the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. Theseus is a hero who recognizes his roots, takes the responsability of doing a crazy journey to kill the Minotaur, the half man-half bull, who symbolizes our deepest fears. The Minotaur is trapped into the Labyrinth of Knossos, which perfectly represents the complexity of our inner world. Each song has a well crafted lyric selection worked around the aforementioned concept and they are filled with many metaphors, making this concept the best one that Fleshgod Apocalypse have worked in their career. With such rich and complex music like the one presented on this album, it’s basically a must to have some kind of deep lyrics and the band did not fail to deliver.
Musically, “Labyrinth” is an extension of the sound they developed for “Agony” where the symphonic elements are the main stars through the whole album. On “Agony”, one of my main complaints were the guitars being buried in the mix and that they were not given a predominant role. This is not the case on “Labyrinth” as the guitars take a leading sound once again making this album heavier than “Agony” and getting a more “metal” sound. But don’t even think that they diminished the symphonic elements, as they are just as dominant as on “Agony”, it’s simply that they properly created a balance between the symphony and the guitars.
“Labyrinth” opens with “Kingborn”, a track which after a minute-plus intro blasts off at full speed. Two minutes into this track, it is pretty evident that Fleshgod Apocalypse is about to unleash a masterpiece upon us. The drum attack is really vicious on this one (and on plenty of other tracks), making them sound even faster than on the band’s previous efforts. “Kingborn” is pure symphonic onslaught and quite simply one of the highlights of the album. Tracks like “Minotaur (Wrath of Poseidon), “Elegy” (the album’s first single) and “Warpledge” continue the merciless musical punishment featuring some of the best vocals by Tommaso thorugh his career, with the usual clean vocal interventions from bassist Paolo, and a better use of the female vocals handled again by Veronica Bordacchini.
Just in the middle of “Labyrinth”, we get one of the most interesting and unique tracks on the album. “Pathfinder” hits us with a semi-industrial sound, not too far from the likes of Fear Factory or even Septicflesh, something the band have not tried before. Obviously it sounds like Fleshgod Apocalypse but the riffing and atmosphere of the song is quite a novelty for the band, making “Pathfinder” one of the album’s highlights. On the second part of “Labyrinth”, we face an additional full-speed assault with “The Fall of Asterion”, just before getting an acoustic guitar relief with “Prologue”. After 9 tracks, the guys felt that they have not given enough, delivering us “Under Black Sails”, the longest track on the album. Clocking at 7 minutes and 26 seconds, “Under Black Sails” works like a summary of the whole album with a full-speed approach trading parts with some of the best mid-tempo and heavy riffing that the band has graced our ears with. “Under Black Sails” is simply Fleshgod Apocalypse at the top of their game, and it’s not just the best track on “Labyrinth”, but perhaps the best song of their outstanding career.
“Labyrinth” closes up with the title track, a 4-minute piano-based song, wrapping up over 50 minutes of a truly rewarding experience. With “Agony”, Fleshgod Apocalypse raised plenty of eyebrows and many praised the band as one of the finest acts from the last couple of years. “Labyrinth” shows them at the peak of their creativity and without a doubt, it is the best album of their career. With “Agony” they pushed the boundaries of symphonic extreme metal to a point where it seemed almost impossible to be reached. “Labyrinth”, with its flawless musical execution alongside the phenomenal lyrical concept pushed those boundaries even farther, up to a point which makes me wonder what more Fleshgod Apocalypse will be able to achieve in future releases. “Labyrinth” is perfect in every possible sense; we simply don’t face musical gems like this one quite often.
Rating: 10/10
Related: Fleshgod Apocalypse Frontman Discusses New Album ‘Labyrinth’
Record Label: Nuclear Blast
Release Dates:
August 16th 2013 (Europe)
August 20th 2013 (North America)
Track Listing:
01. Kingborn
02. Minotaur (The Wrath Of Poseidon)
03. Elegy
04. Towards The Sun
05. Warpledge
06. Pathfinder
07. The Fall Of Asterion
08. Prologue
09. Epilogue
10. Under Black Sails
11. Labyrinth
Links:
facebook.com/fleshgodapocalypse
fleshgodapocalypse.com
twitter.com/FApocalypse