Author: Primož Novak
Artist: Septicflesh
Label: Season Of Mist
Release: year_month
Runtime: 45:24
Rating: 4.3/5
Greek death metallers Septicflesh only really got noticed in 2008 with the album Communion, which pushed the limits of their creativity and gave metal something genuinely authentic. The band goes all the way back to 1990, and since then they’ve racked up quite a few albums that were tagged as atmospheric death metal. The early records are certainly interesting, even downright bizarre to a degree, but sadly they never got much attention.
With Communion, the picture changed quite a bit. After five years, Septicflesh came back with a symphonic orchestra, which took their atmospheric death metal up a level and made it more pleasant and more appealing to listeners. The band’s rebirth was also visible when they landed on a better-known label.
The idea of weaving in a symphonic orchestra paid off. With every new album, Septicflesh wanted to make something even more spectacular. The production got more massive, and more and more musicians took part in the recording.
Titan, which follows The Great Mass from 2011, keeps up Septicflesh’s pomp but takes it further, so there’s no talk of any stagnation here. The songs stand out for their heavy use of the symphonic orchestra, and as a bonus the band has expanded its choir, which really shines in some parts and does a great job building the atmosphere of the whole record. The music itself isn’t especially complex. It’s rhythmically varied, as befits death metal, but the guitars lean toward simpler death metal moves. Septicflesh’s recipe is no doubt a good one, because everything fits together perfectly.
The listener gets a real punch, with fast drums and an orchestra that also reaches for more atonal music. That’s how Septicflesh show off their sense of morbidity, which in the lyrics draws on the ideas of writer H. P. Lovecraft. The essence of it is driven home even more by Spiros Antoniou’s deep but intelligible growl. But Septicflesh aren’t gloomy all the time. The orchestra likes to bring out the melodic side too, and a good example is the song Confessions of a Serial Killer. Guitarist Sotiris Anunnaki V adds extra polish with his melodic vocals, which gives the whole thing that much more variety.
In a solid 45 minutes, Septicflesh deliver yet another album packed with intriguing twists, darkness, beauty and pomp. It’s without a doubt the most original use of an orchestra out there, one that stays true to extreme music and doesn’t lean on kitsch. Septicflesh level up sensibly with every album, which bodes well for the ones to come.
Lineup
Christos Antoniou – guitars, orchestrations
Sotiris Anunnaki V – vocals, guitars
Seth Siro Anton – vocals, bass, illustrations
Fotis Benardo – drums, sound processing
Production
Logan Mader
Tracklist
01. War in Heaven
02. Burn
03. Order of Dracul
04. Prototype
05. Dogma
06. Prometheus
07. Titan
08. Confessions of a Serial Killer
09. Ground Zero
10. The First Immortal
