Review Summary: A symphonic dystopia.
"Agony" is a crushing wall of sound. Choirs wail, violins are breaking at the bow, and roars fill every crevice of sound. Simply put, "Agony" is massive. Everything is geared towards creating as epic an album as possible, and in reality that always was and still seems to be Fleshgod Apocalypses goal. To be blistering in pace, heavy as possible, and incorporating a slight hint of chaos from winding violin work and blaring trumpets.
The album starts melodious and peaceful with "Temptation". Really soothing piano builds into awe-inspiring suspense. Then, it comes. Ravenous blast beats, powerful mid-ranged screams, and gorgeous symphonies. The drumming in particular is incredibly stand-out, which is for better and worse. The production is geared towards pushing the drumming and symphonies over the other instruments, to the point where they slightly obscure some extremely talented guitar riffs. The drum work has complex fills and is incredibly rampant, and may have among the highest BPM i've heard among any drumming, however, it can be just a tad much. It doesn't drown the riffs entirely and there are brief moments where the drum takes a back seat, however not quite enough.
Probably the best moments the guitar has to shine, even outshine the drumming is during the solos. Short lived as they me be they are beastly shreds, being technical and perfectly pristine, with some absolutely incredibly sweeps. The riffs are slightly buried but they keep the tone pretty well and never grow stagnant. Personally, my favorite examples are the songs "The Deceit" and "The Betrayal". The riffs aren't to complex yet their tone helps balance the song incredibly well. Not to mention it also has an incredibly guitar sweep halfway through.
The parts, however, that make Fleshgod Apocalypse so unique and orchestrated are the vocals and symphonies. They are truly the part that create this constant climax that the music rarely leaves. Although slightly over the top, over the top works well off of "Agony", because everything simply sounds like an ultra-charged composition, vibrant and burning with energy. For example, take the lead song off the album "The Violation". The clean vocals soar unbelievably high, and while initially they might sound awkward, it becomes impressive how the vocalist pulls off a high with such harmony so well. It's so clean and brings the song and album to heights otherwise not present. It also gives a great contrast between the crunch from the mid-screams and the clean highs. (also off "The Egoism" there is an actual female opera singer who pulls of some extremely high notes beautifully).
The album is chaotic yet beautiful. Amazing sweeping piano and violins, thunderous blast beats and incredible shreds alongside blasting roars make for one of Fleshgod Apocalypses best albums yet. Although it would be nice if the production didn't it force the drums upon you as much as they did, it only detracts slightly from the symphonic dystopia that is "Agony."
