Fleshgod Apocalypse play extreme metal with orchestral flourishes, an idea that's been explored before --
Cradle of Filth used a real orchestra and choir on Damnation and a Day, and
Dimmu Borgir did it on
Death Cult Armageddon, to pick two notable examples. These Italians aren't using a real orchestra, though, as one can tell by reading the CD booklet; pianist Francesco Ferrini is credited with "orchestral arrangements," which likely means Logic or Cubase. And unfortunately, the classical instruments aren't integrated into the music in the way
Dimmu and
Cradle did; they're reduced to intros and codas. The album begins with the sound of an orchestra tuning up, and the coughs and shuffling of an "audience," but then the band comes in and listeners get standard brutal, technical death metal, somewhere between
Suffocation and
Necrophagist. The orchestra isn't heard from again until the last minute of the third track, "As Tyrants Fall," when the metal part of the song ends and a waltz interlude fills out the rest of the running time. One would think with a title like "Requiem in 57 Minore," a true combination of classical instrumentation and metal fury would ensue, but no. The next non-rock instrument heard is a Baroque piano intro on "Embodied Deception." A choir is heard at the tail end of "Infection of the White Throne," but again, they're separate from the metal, not of it; they might as well be samples. And the album's final track is a three-minute Baroque piano solo piece. If one comes to it seeking really good technical death metal,
Oracles is highly rewarding. The band can definitely play, and the songs are good. But from the classical-metal fusion angle (and extreme metal frequently does have more in common with classical music, compositionally speaking, than rock), this album is something of a missed opportunity. ~ Phil Freeman