One more week of 2013 down, here’s 3 more releases to get you through the next one.
Symphonic death metal pummelers Fleshgod Apocalypse are back with their third full length today. The album, titled “Labyrinth,” is the second with the current band line up and the second album featuring the band’s signature symphonic style. After two or maybe three spins of “Labyrinth” I have to see that I’m definitely underwhelmed. I find the absence of stand-alone and grandiose string intros, outros and bridges, and the absence of amazing melodically beautiful soloing and shred to really take away from the album. But that’s my opinion, and only the first impression. Go stream it yourself and decide, I’ll definitely give “Labyrinth” more of a shot.
Swedish Black Metal band Watain are returning with their 5th album today. These guys take their music, and Black Metal lifestyle very seriously, which to me isn’t a bad thing at all. It’s nice to still see some musicians still deadly serious about the music they make and the message they spread, rather than every band member also acting like a clown when the spotlight is on them. I definitely do appreciate an intelligent, thoughtful and provocative metalhead to a clown. Go read this metalsucks interview with vocalist and mastermind Erik Danielsson here. Anyways, Watain have a new album, titled “The Wild Hunt,” and it’s out today. Everything sounds promising so far. Check it out.
New wave thrashers Diamond Plate are back, after some time and a vocalist/bassist change, with their sophomore effort today. The album will be titled “Pulse” and will be released via Century Media Records. The band claims it was recorded without a click track and done timely, claiming one song took only 3 takes to completely nail. If this is true, that’s impressive and speaks to the competency of the musicians, not only as individuals, but as a group. “Pulse” seems to continue with the bands shift to include Pantera-esque thrash stylings. Some might like that, I don’t. Whatever. I’m still gonna give it a shot, and you should too.
NEW FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE IS STREAMING RIGHT NOW ON TERRORIZER! GOOOO!!
The Italian Symphonic Death masters are back with their third full length and the follow up to breakthrough release “Agony.” New album “Labyrinth” continues to utilize the immense orchestrations and dense mix found on “Agony” with an improved mixing and mastering this time around. The guitars are more present on “Labyrinth,” which is a major improvement.
But honestly, overall, I’m a little ways in and I’m not sure what I think. Aesthetically this beats “Agony” but otherwise I’m not sure. Sure the mix and tones are great but what really counts is the songwriting. The band is still pummelling as a pack of angry, demonic mastodon but I have a couple preliminary criticisms. There hasn’t been any epic orchestration intros like the album intro or the intro to “The Violation” off of “Agony,” the bassist's clean vocals have been mostly removed in favor of a true female opera singer and I definitely miss his unique style, and it seems to me like there is less soloing so far. Well I’ll spin it a bit and we’ll see what I think. You should go figure out for yourself though.
The time is almost upon us... Fleshgod Apocalypse will be returning full force next month with the release of their newest album "Labyrinth". Your mind will get lost in the complex maze of pummeling, symphonic Death Metal.
So far they've released a single "Elegy" and an album preview. Witness the awesome down below!
The album is set to release August 16th in Europe, August 19th in the UK, and August 20th in the United States. All of which will be released via the European juggernaut Nuclear Blast Records. Keep your eyes and ears open. Pre-orders are available on Amazon!
Here is a collection of hyper talented drummers from behind
the kit. Enjoy the
insanity!
