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Fleshgod Apocalypse: Oracles

24/01/12 || Smalley

If, like me, you’re backtracking to Fleshgod’s 2009 debut after discovering Agony to be one of the better records of last year, then you’re in a for a bit of a shock; while “Agony” was about as symphonic as symphonic metal gets, “Oracles” takes much more of a straight-forward tech/brutal death approach, with only the occasional symphonic cameo hinting at the direction of their sophomore album. I guess adding in Tommaso Riccardi for vocal/guitar duties freed up Francesco Ferrini to focus on adding more orchestral arrangements for “Agony”, or something. Italian names sure are purty.

But, whatever the reason, the much less “pretty” approach here certainly isn’t a disappointment, especially considering this was the band’s first outing; while the techier style occasionally leads to some generic, obnoxious Beneath The Massacre-style wanking, the sheer, consistently high energy level here is usually more than enough to make up for that. It’s funny though; at the beginning of opener “In honor of reason”, we get about 15 seconds of an orchestra warming-up (ala the intro on “Symphony of destruction”), so if you’re coming into this right after “Agony”, your expectations are being met, until… BAM! Chunky, stop-start riffing kicks in the fucken door, the orchestra fades away into oblivion (save for a very short but cool interlude near the end), and the rest of the track takes off into relentlessly brutal, tech death chaos, with the signaturely insane drumming (provided by guest skins-basher Mauro Mercuri here) that we’ve come to expect from FA.

While it isn’t a great tune, as the songwriting path is a bit too jumbled (ya know, not “smooth” enough) for my tastes, but again, the energy level, performances, and catchy, headbangable guitar work are enough to overcome that. “Post-enlightenment executor” keeps the album going strong, fast, ‘n heavy in the same basic vein, and it basically continues in that fashion for the remainder, save for the occasional short orchestral interlude, like the laughably mild-mannered instruments at the end “As tyrants fall” (think the hoity-toity tea party-music intro on “Fight fire with fire”).

Sure, there is some variety with the fastness/slowness of the tempo choices, but not a whole lot, really. For the most part, the riffing just comes at us fast and brutal, the solos, technical, the drumming, blast-heavy, the growling, mostly incomprehensible, but this truly is a more-than-the-sum-of-its-parts album; the elements that seem like generic tech death fodder on paper really do go down easier in practice, due to their solid executions.

So, if you’re like some in the October AA who felt Fleshgod went too far with the symphonic elements on “Agony”, and pined to hear some more of their rhythm guitar action, “Oracles” is your album. It only has a little bit of the classy, well-integrated symphonics that made “Agony” stick out for me, so it won’t stay in my memory as strongly as that one did, but if I can still make room for the complex, catchy insanity of “Oracles” in my tiny lil’ metal world, maybe you can too.

Information
Released: 2009
Label: Candlelight
Website: www.fleshgodapocalypse.com
Band
Francesco Paoli: guitars, vocals
Mauro Mercurio: drums
Cristiano Trionfera: guitars
Paolo Rossi: bass
Francesco Ferrini: orchestral arrangement, piano

Tracklist
01. In Honour Of Reason
02. Post-Enlightenment Executor
03. As Tyrants Fall
04. Sophistic Demise
05. Requiem in SI Minore
06. At The Guillotine
07. Embodied Deception
08. Infection Of The White Throne
09. Retrieving My Carcass
10. Oracles

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