FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE
Opera
Nuclear Blast Records
There has always been an element of operatic melodrama when it comes to Italy's FLESHGOD APOCALPYSE. There is of course the opulence and theatricality of the band's symphonic death metal bluster. And there has been behind-the-scenes turmoil, with sometimes seismic lineup changes and position shuffling that finds the quintet now with but one original member.
All of the above is in abundance on FLESHGOD's grandiose, and aptly titled, sixth full-length Opera. Gone from the lineup of 2019's Veleno is bassist/clean vocalist Paolo Rossi, leaving two-time frontman, long-time drummer and occasional guitarist Francesco Paoli as the lone founding member. Touring/guest members guitarist Fabio Bartoletti and drummer Eugene Ryabchenko have come aboard as full members as has soprano Veronica Bordacchini who now handles all the clean vocals.
There is also the matter of Paoli quite literally falling off a mountain, which not only jeopardized his career, but the band's future. A rock-climbing accident in August 2021 left him with a number of broken bones and nerve damage that required several surgeries to repair, not to mention a lengthy rehab. FLESHGOD was effectively on hiatus during his long recovery, but recover Paoli has.
In the true spirit of what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, the ordeal serves as the basis for Opera, making for an unusually personal and deeply felt album from a band that has typically built metaphorical storylines around mythology, history and philosophy, or a combination thereof. The drama here is as real as it gets, as evidenced by the opening verse and chorus from "Bloodclock": "Awake, alone, paralyzed / The blood in my mouth tastes like defeat / Wounded, swollen, bleeding / I'm hanging on this wall like a crucifix"... "I can see my life flashing before my eyes / I can hear my wife yelling my name in vain / While my son holds a shovel and is digging my grave / But I'm not dead yet."
The thematic intensity and its emotional swings - from defiance/denial to agony/despair to remorse and ultimately rebirth- are matched by a score that proves to be FLESHGOD's most diverse and impactful, building on the orchestral spectacle while at the same time providing grounding that makes the overall presentation really resonate and remain tightly focused. Given the band's past propensity for neoclassical overindulgence, Opera is surprisingly lean and efficient, delivering its 10 songs - including an intro and outro - in 44 minutes, nicely capturing the immediacy of Paoli's ordeal while ensuring the myriad components not only fit but belong.
Following the mournful intro "Ode to Art (De' Sepolcri)" showcasing Bordacchini's soprano vocals, Opera launches into the unrelenting "I Can Never Die" - essentially the album's theme song - that brings all of the FLESHGOD ingredients to bear with its furious, blasty pace, and maelstrom of guitar and strings, choral vocals and clean choruses and Paoli's feral snarl. The dizzying "Morphine Waltz" and "Per Aspera Ad Astra" revisit this full-on/all-in approach further on, but much of the rest of Opera opts more for depth and contrast, delivering its extremity in measured bursts.
The largely frantic "Bloodclock" breaks stride with a sweeping melodic passage and breathless, droning finale, but elsewhere the deviations are more, well, dramatic. Fittingly, "Pendulum" swings back and forth from martial grandiosity to rivet-gun industrial clangor, with a nifty guitar lead/piano duel to boot, while the similarly martial "At War With My Soul" is punctuated by rousing battle horns, Bordacchini's soaring clean/operatic back and forth and Paoli's argumentative roar.
The tech death drag race of "Per Aspera Ad Astra" is sandwiched between the album's two most listener friendly numbers. "Matricide 8.21" has a NIGHTWISH-y feel with Bordacchini's prominent cleans and the arena-sized anthemics that power the song. "Till Death Do Us Part" is a genuine ballad that brings the album to a close, with Bordacchini again playing a commanding role.
Having been largely limited to operatic parts on previous albums, her multi-faceted vocals - which get downright shrieky and screamy as well - are put to far better and more frequent use here, which adds loads of personality without sounding rote or contrived.
With that and Paoli now taking over on bass, FLESHGOD has effectively replaced Rossi from within and made the band a stronger, tighter unit as a result. And while it's unfortunate that it took something traumatic like Paoli's accident to prime the pump for what became Opera, it's encouraging to see the band and especially Paoli can turn tragedy into such a triumph.
4.0 Out Of 5.0
