Fleshgod Apocalypse

With a sound that doesn't so much find the worlds of symphonic and brutal death metal merging as it does colliding, Italian band Fleshgod Apocalypse are one of those rare groups whose music is more intense and physical than their name. Over a clutch of consistent, ever more intricate and dissonant recordings, this Roman outfit has profoundly impacted the global metal scene with its sculpted compositions and unrelenting, noisy attack, first heard on 2009's Oracles. Despite lineup changes, they only succeeded in becoming more ambitious, as evidenced by the 2013 concept offering Labyrinth, based on the mythological "Labyrinth of Knossos," and 2021's dynamic Veleno, which added more classical elements to the group's ever-expanding sonic oeuvre. 2024 saw the release of Opera, an album of unrelenting intensity inspired by a near-fatal mountain climbing accident involving frontman Francesco Paoli.