Our top ten Fleshgod Apocalypse songs list looks at the work of a symphonic metal band formed in 2007 in Perugia, Italy. They were formed by Francesco Paoli formerly of Hour of Penance. They soon recorded their first demo titled Promo 07. After signing with Neurotic Records, they soon started touring opening for bands such as Napalm Death, Hate Eternal and Origin. 2008 saw the recording of their debut album Oracles. They moved to Willowtip records and released it in 2009.
In 2010, their Mafia ep was released. Later that year they signed with Extreme Management Group Ltd and began work on their second album. However, whilst working on it they left this label and moved to Nuclear Blast. Agony was released in 2011.
After embarking on the touring cycle to support Agony, they followed it up with Labyrinth in 2013. This was followed by King in 2016 which got to number twenty-seven on the Billboard 200. Their fifth album Veleno was released in 2019 which expanded on the style that they had established with King. In 2020 they released and ep called No. Their most recent activity was when they released a cover of “Blue (Da Be Dee)”, the nineties Europop hit by boy band Eifel 65, which was somewhat hilarious whilst at the same time arguably being a work of genius. Although it will not be featured on this , I still urge readers of this site to check it out if they have not heard it. Here is a list of their ten best songs that are all very much their own.
# 10 – Minotaur
Kicking off our top Fleshgod Apocalypse songs list is this track taken from Labyrinth released in 2013. This album is a concept album based on the labyrinth of Knossos and the myth associated with it. This track is a brilliant song complete with an orchestra and a choir that will truly go down in history as one of the greatest ever metal tracks.
# 9 – The Betrayal
The next track is taken from the band’s second album Agony released in 2011. This album is very well produced with producer Stefano Morabito really bringing out all of the musicianship, which is also amazing, with the band being equally as brutal as they are epic. The album got to number eighteen on the Billboard Heatseekers chart.
# 8 – Elegy
Here is another track taken from Labyrinth. This is another brilliant track from a generally incredible album. Not only are the symphonic elements very good, but with this album the band prove that they are truly among the best musicians in the extreme metal genre. The member that really stands out is drummer Francesco Paoli.
# 7 – The Deceit
And here is another track taken from Agony. This track really shows the classical influence that the band have. The way that they mix this influence with extreme blasting death metal works in a way that the average listener would not expect it to. To anyone who thinks that death metal is nothing more than talentless noise, listen to this and I guarantee it will change the way that you think.
# 6 – The Hypocrisy
Here is yet another track from Agony, which I cannot state enough is a classic album. Here is another track that makes heavy use of an orchestra that almost makes it sound like a death metal opera. Like many of their songs, the listener can just picture it in an epic battle scene in a fantasy movie. In fact the whole album could serve as the soundtrack to such a film.
# 5 – King
Here we have the title track from the band’s fourth album King released in 2016. This is another work of genius album from the band. Due to the overly expensive cost of using a full live orchestra, the band instead used software to create the orchestral sounds. Although this could have come off sounding cheap, it is anything but as the orchestral part sound almost like an actual live orchestra.
# 4 – The Fool
Here we have a song taken from King that is popular with fans and has an orchestral arrangement that has a lot of work put into it. Timing is an important thing when mixing orchestral music with metal, and this track very manages to avoid sounding out of sync with both of the elements. Although the track is not as out and out brutal as some of their previous material it is still extremely heavy but with more of a sense of melody. It is a song that shows that Fleshgod Apocalypse are some of the most talented musicians in metal, almost on par with classically trained musicians. The vocals and the speed and sound of the guitar are particular highlights.
# 3 – In Auternum
Next we have another song from King which has more of the familiar brutal style than the previous entry on this list. With a lot of brutal metal bands, a piano would sound ridiculous but with Fleshgod Apocalypse, they are able to use it with such a unique flow that you barely realise its their let alone find it distracting and out of place, and I do not mean that in a bad way. Another thing to note about this song is how tight the musicianship is, the guitars and the drums are both played with a precision that really shows that the band are true musical maestros. Then there is the choir on this song , who create such a perfect contrast with that of the regular vocals.
# 2 – Cold As Perfection
Just off the top spot we have yet another song from King. I may sound biased towards this album but it is just full of so many masterpieces and this song is one of them. With this track, we have a slightly more standard metal sounding tune that is closer to black metal than anything else. With that said it still has plenty of beautiful classical and orchestral elements. The real icing on the cake comes in the form of guest appearance from a female opera singer during the song’s middle section.
# 1 – In Honour of Reason
At the top spot of our Fleshgod Apocalypse songs list is the opening track of their debut album Oracle released in 2009. It features Francesco Paoli on vocals who would move to drums afterwards before returning to vocals for the release of their fifth album Veleno ten years later in 2019. This song and album are more in line with technical death metal rather than the symphonic style that the band would become known for.
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Top 10 Fleshgod Apocalypse Songs article published on Classic RockHistory.com© 2021
