MAFIA

FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE followed up their debut album "Oracles" with a short but brutally sweet EP titled MAFIA. Once again this band has conjured up some of the most technically proficient death metal to date. While the band follows close in the footsteps of their debut album by intertwining classical and brutal death metal with the brutality clearly winning out, the classical aspects do shine a bit more through the din. Right from the beginning we hear a violin before being drowned out by a cacophonous din of highly distorted guitar riffs, pummeling blastbeat drumming and guttural growly vocals to die for!

MAFIA is a sonic assault from every standpoint. This is ugly, brutal, cold and an utter onslaught on the senses. The pace is absolutely relentless as the breakneck speed only gives the listener sporadic yet brief respites from the barbarous breakneck pace of the distortionfest. While this is certainly some of the most brutal death metal the planet has to offer, what makes this ever so addictive is that the song structure is so infused with classical music textures that only occasional bubble up from the underworld just long enough as to remind the listener that there is indeed an underlying melodic approach to the madness.

While this album is fairly close to the debut there are some efforts to diversify the songwriting which also includes a final track that is totally written on the piano bringing a Chopin-esque melancholy to conclude a contemplative anecdote to the baleful barrage of the senses. While the classical bubblings are scarce at this point in the band's discography there are a few key points like in "Conspiracy Of Silence" where they emerge to dominate for a brief period to tame the savage beast.

Between the excellent production that updates the death metal sound without sterilizing it and the outstanding musicianship of this phenomenal band that brutally assault the senses at the speed of light while maintaining an impeccable ability to balance the robotic with the progressive subtleties, FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE simply sonically bedazzles and delivers in the most unconventional ways of incorporating melodic anchorage in a seemingly cacophonous din of sonic torture. Not only am i impressed by this madness but i always find my protruding appendages banging and often destroying all objects in my vicinity simultaneously when this repulsive raucousness seriously blastbeats my reality.