Recommendation of the day - Fleshgod Apocalypse

Ciao Onnipotente Legioni,

This morning I did not wake up feeling completely Italian by the way. However, as it has become quite usual, destiny had a piece of pie waiting for me to munch on it (I really don't like pie, maybe the metaphor would work better if life offered me a slice of Pizza on pesto sauce, with sun-dried tomatoes, goat cheese, roasted red peppers, fresh tomatoes, and tons of spinach. I would probably accompany that with orgasmic creamy garlic sauce from Pizza Pizza. Oh Life, how I would love thee if that were true).

Either way, as I was trying to work on some stuff, one of my Care bear friends took the time to disturb my peace (thank you kindly Care bear Javier) and sent me a marvelous song that led me to the publication of this short, but very important blog. Unfortunately, I have been experiencing monotonousness syndrome, and thus, I don't think I can completely elaborate on my thirst for new sounds. As much as I love music, I was getting tired of listening to the same 5 songs on repeat (particularly after being ipod-less and berry-less for over a month). Thus, when the time is right, I have to highlight those tunes that simply rock my world and make me want to continue gasping on air. This time, it is my pleasure to share with you Italian Tech. Death Metal sensation, Fleshgod Apocalypse, and one of the songs from their latest album Agony, called The Violation.

This song is brought to you by the letter T, as 9 out of 10 songs in this album start with the letter T, and eight of them have the word "the" at the beginning of their title. I really wonder why.

So I went ahead and clicked away on the link sent to me. What I heard at first was something that reminded me of another great band known as Thou Shalt Suffer, whom I had not heard in a while (By the way, anything associated directly with Ihsahn has my sign of approval). Yours truly started getting quite amused. The atmosphere of the song starts as something rather obscure and wintry, highlighted by the presence of cellos, which slowly introduce the sound of a higher pitch violin - It gets arousing. As I continued listening, the pleasant melody gets even more beautiful as an oboe is introduced into the song. At this point, my imaginary phallus climaxed. The melody starts picking up its pace, into what seems to be a slow get-away (picture little red ridding hood trying to be as quiet as possible, to avoid being eaten by a huge-ass wolf), which rapidly becomes a desperate escape on tippy toes. I was really drawn into an intense trance when my fantasy was suddenly torn in a rather delightful fashion by the brutality of Death Metal (climax times 2).

I am usually very skeptical about melodic introductions to violent riffs, given that in many cases it becomes a make-it-or-break-it factor that can either draw me me madly towards a song, or simply disgust me like there is no tomorrow. Timing is key, yet it is not everything. It all comes down to the it factor, which is what makes a band great, and not mere pot-smashing, tile-scratching noise followed by distorted voices.


After watching and listening to The Violation several times (that statement right there sounds really comical hehe), I find that what makes this song so magnificent is the fact that both streams -heavy and melodic- accompany each other throughout the duration of the song and do not let go of the other. It is as if they where both ballroom dancing, and depended on one another not to screw up. Each one takes the lead at a given point, but also yields, almost voluntarily, to the input of the other. That's brilliant! At the end, the classical instruments finish it off very glamorously as if directed by a great Conductor. Meanwhile, the more aggressive side of the band culminates in an equally elegant fashion- touché Now, if what I just said is not enough to convince you, it may be time for you to take a look for yourself:

-Stay Metal- 

Fraulein Andrea MMXI