Heavy Metal Tribune: Interview with Fleshgod Apocalypse

Interview with Fleshgod Apocalypse

Author: Hong Rui | Filed under: Death Metal, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Italy, Symphonic Metal

With their new album, Agony, Fleshgod Apocalypse presents a marked shift in musical direction with the inclusion of heavier orchestral arrangements in the music, yet not neglecting the technical aspects that they have been so known for. We talk to Cristiano to find out more.

HMT: Hi Cristiano! Congratulations to you and the band for the recent release of Agony. How has the reception for the album been so far?

CRISTIANO: Ehi! Thank you! The album is going great, we're really happy about the reaction of the fans!

Fleshgod Apocalypse was formed back in 2007 and with just 2 full length albums, the band has managed to garner quite a large following. What do you think it is that makes Fleshgod Apocalypse stand out from other bands?

CRISTIANO: Actually, I think people are interested in our music because of our style, you know, it's not easy to find other bands mixing classical music and death metal, so maybe it's because of this! Moreover, one of our first goals is to create something unique that can be immediately be recognized. I mean, when you hear a song you must say: "it's Fleshgod!" That's it!

Let’s now talk about the latest album, Agony. The first thing that one notices when listening to the album is the increased presence of the orchestra/symphonic element in the music, compared to the band’s debut Oracles. What was it that made the band decide to go in this direction?

CRISTIANO: The choice we made on Agony was the first intention of the band. We always wanted to create something death metal and symphonic at the same time, but in the beginning of the band, we couldn't work that way, simply because we didn't have the chance to work full-time with a real orchestral arranger! With Francesco (our pianist and orchestrator) joining the band permanently, we finally managed to do that and we are super happy of the results!

While there is an increased presence of the symphonic element, the brutality and technicality is not compromised in the album as well. What was the songwriting process like for Agony, and how was it different from writing Oracles?

CRISTIANO: The compositional process is pretty different. We started from the orchestral arrangements, along with drums. Then we arranged all the other instruments like they were parts of the orchestra, that's why guitars have a more rhythmic role compared to our previous works. In Oracles our main riffing was much more weird and that's because we needed to create the "classical" feeling through guitars, but having the chance to arrange an entire orchestra, we obviously had to change a bit our songwriting. Sure, our brutality will never be compromised!

The album, when first released, received mix reactions from fans, with some claiming that the orchestra was too overpowering, burying the guitars beneath the mix. Was this done intentionally on the part of the band? If so, why?

CRISTIANO: As I said the orchestra has a primary role in this album, it creates all the songs and all the music starts from there. Actually the guitars are not buried at all, they are pretty detectable!! Simply they have a different role. The riffing is simpler, faster and is rhytmically combined with drums, even bass has this kind of purpose, giving the song all the power it needs.

Cristiano, you are in charge of the orchestral arrangements on Agony as well. How did the interest in classical music begin, and what made you decide to fuse this with the music of Fleshgod Apocalypse in general?

CRISTIANO: Actually I took care about the orchestral arrangements on Mafia and from Agony on that work is up to our pianist/orchestrator Francesco Ferrini. The idea of mixing classical and death metal is on the base of the band, from the beginning. We always loved that music, as long as death metal so we decided to try working that way, creating something dramatic and unique. It was kinda gamble, but you know, if you want to obtain something you have to risk something.

In addition to the increased orchestration in the music, one thing that was noticed was the usage of clean vocals by bassist Paolo as well. How did the decision for the inclusion of clean vocals come about, for this album particularly?

CRISTIANO: We experimented Paolo's vocals on the EP Mafia and it turned out very well, that's why we decided to use them much more in Agony. He sings four chorus in the album, and the main purpose of his high pitched screams is to have like a cry coming from afar, something desperate yet powerful. That's the point!

There also seems to be a running theme on Agony, with similar themes on the song titles. Would it be possible to give listeners and our readers a brief description of the concept or theme behind Agony?

CRISTIANO: The album is basically a concept. It speaks about all the bad habits of mankind: all these things forced humanity in a perennial agony. That's why the man in the cover artwork is chained to the ground. The chains are our "sins" that condemn us in this deadly condition.

Along with the album, the band released a music video for the song “The Violation”. What was the filming experience like, and why pick that song for the first video of the album?

CRISTIANO: Yes, it was so funny! We never did that before, so it was kinda new experience for us! I think doing a videoclip is very very useful for our music, even because we always focused on our image, in our live shows too. The choice of the song was obvious! The Violation is the most "representative" song of the album, since it has everything: catchy melodies, clean vocals, melodic solos and so on.. it's also the shorter song of the album so it fits perfectly the role of the "single"!

Another thing that was noticed was the change in band logo, compared to the previous releases Oracles and the Mafia EP. What was the reason behind the change in band logo?

CRISTIANO: That's very simple. Our old logo was very nice and we loved that, but it's a bit unreadable. When you have to be recognized at first sight, you need something much more straight, that hits you directly, and that's what we need now! Moreover, the new logo is much more sober, it's something like an old classical ruined writing, more classical oriented, like our music nowadays!

Agony marks the first album of the band that is released under Nuclear Blast Records. How has it been working with them so far?

CRISTIANO: It's amazing to work with such a great label! They always let us decide about our ideas and musical purposes. They surely can advise you about stuff or so, but they NEVER told us what we had to do or something, that's a big mistake, that unfortunately I had to read about too much times. Moreover, they're very professional and that's what a band like us needs now.

Finally, the last words of the interview are yours!

CRISTIANO: Thank you for the interest in Fleshgod Apocalypse, check out our new album AGONY and see you all on the road! We'll hit every part of the world soon!!

Thank you once again for taking the time to answer our questions. We wish you and the band all the best in all upcoming endeavours!

CRISTIANO: Thank you again, cheers!