FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE – Agony
- by Matt Coe
- Posted on 11-08-2011
Extreme metal safeguards delivered from this Italian act: dramatic classically driven intro, highly triggered double bass that appears to be playing in warp overdrive, and vocals summoned from the grave. Welcome to Italian brutality done with symphony elements, otherwise known as “Agony” the second album from Fleshgod Apocalypse. The 8 main songs (book ended with that aforementioned intro and the closing title track piano piece) on the surface should appeal to most American death fans who seek the fastest material accented with neo-classical keyboard flourishes.
The slower mid-section militant groove for “The Deceit” provides a breather, but overall “Agony” fails to appeal long term because unlike Septic Flesh who’ve figured out how to meld the symphonic parts to their real instrumentation, here the speed factor washes away any semblance of individual song retention. It’s almost with uncanny regularity you predict when the blasts come and stay – and that’s not a good thing when you want to stand out in this highly populated scene.