The curtain rises for Fleshgod Apocalypse.
In 2024, the Italian band comprising Francesco Paoli (bass/guitar/vocals, Coffin Birth, ex-Bloodtruth, ex-Hour of Penance), Francesco Ferrini (keyboards), Eugene Ryabchenko (drums, Banisher, formerly live for Belphegor, Vital Remains…), Fabio Bartoletti (guitar, ex-Hideous Divinity) and Veronica Bordacchini (vocals) unveil Opera, their sixth album.
This album is the first without bassist Paolo Rossi (bass/vocals), one of the project’s three founders, who decided to leave the band earlier this year.
Ode to Art (De’ Sepolcri) makes gently enter onto the stage with melancholic piano, followed by Veronica‘s voice, which immediately hypnotizes us, but the orchestrations appear in their turn, making the sound majestic to welcome the raw power of I Can Never Die. As usual, the musicians are monstrous, offering us such an onslaught of devastating riffs and intense, complementary vocal parts, and the only moment that resembles quietude is that gripping solo before the final, which takes us straight to the heavy atmosphere of Pendulum. Already well known to fans, this menacing composition uses its dark, disquieting parts to fascinate and oppress us, before Bloodclock takes over with reassuring tones, only to be swept away again by an aggressive, worked rhythm punctuated by very slight lulls. The break plunges us into a kind of fog, from which the lead guitar emerges to accompany the vocalist, then it’s after an imposing final passage that At War With My Soul begins, where the keyboards play an active part in plunging us into anguish while the rhythmic beats hit us relentlessly. The sound gets heavier before moving on to the playful Morphine Waltz, which allows the two vocalists to unleash themselves on the energetic riffs, following the frantic rhythm complemented by harmonics and orchestrations. Then the mood changes drastically with Matricide 8. 21, becoming both more accessible and more dreary at first, before returning to this lively madness. The melodic fury continues on Per Aspera Ad Astra, letting brutality rub shoulders with technicality at every turn, while offering us more grandiose passages before returning to a more haunting approach on Till Death Do Us Part, which gives pride of place to the most operatic tones the band knows how to create, including a fadeout at the end, letting Francesco Ferrini close the album with Opera, a magnificent piano instrumental piece that remains in the continuity of the band’s creations.
The titans of Fleshgod Apocalypse remain unrivalled when it comes to blending brutality, technicality and that grandiose lyrical touch. Opera isn’t out yet, but you can be sure that it has already earned its place among this year’s masterpieces.
95/100