Italy’s brutal/symphonic horde, FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE, is no stranger to the world of technical death metal. Guitarist/vocalist, Cristiano Trionfera talks exclusively with MetalIndia Magazine about unique blend of technical death metal with symphonic elements and more.

Hello Fleshgod Apocalypse. How is your UK tour going on? Must have been a hectic touring schedule, isn’t it?
Hi! Yes it has been great even if cold as hell! Haha! We’re now doing the last shows of the tour in France and it all is soo good. Being on tour with The Black Dahlia Murder and Skeletonwitch is awesome and we’re having such a good time!

You’re one of the first (if not the first) bands I’ve listened to, from Italy. Please tell us something about the history of the band from the beginning.
We formed in 2007 and started the band with the idea of melting up Death Metal and Classical music influences. We released our first full-length, Oracles,  on Willowtip Records in 2009 and in 2010 an EP called Mafia on the same label. Between these two records we changed lineup: Francesco Paoli switched from guitar player and singer to drummer and Tommaso Riccardi joined the band as lead vocalist and guitarist. In 2011 we released our second album called Agony on Nuclear Blast Records. Working on this album Francesco Ferrini (piano and orchestra) joined the full-time lineup. Since the release of Agony we’ve been touring pretty much nonstop.

Your latest album ‘Agony’ has elevated the band to the status of technical death metal masters. How does it feel?
It’s great, even if we don’t really consider ourselves as Technical Death Metallers. With Agony we decided to make a step forward on our path, evolving into a Symphonic Extreme Metal (as someone said) band.

In ‘Agony’ you introduced symphonic/classical elements never heard before on your albums. Was it something you planned before started working on the album? Will you incorporate these new elements in future releases as well?
It definitely was something we wanted to do from the beginning. As I said we wanted the band’s sound to evolve, starting from the basic idea we always have had and getting deeper into the experimentation of what the two worlds we try to merge can create. I’m pretty sure that we’ll be using this formula in the future as well, even if we always follow what we like and what we enjoy, so who knows?

The best thing I loved about ‘Agony’ was that in spite of the increased presence of the symphonic element, the level of brutality and technicality was still as good as ‘Mafia’. Also, the bassist did a great job with clean vocals as well. How did you make that happen? Tell us about the challenges you faced while working on ‘Agony’.
Well thank you. When we started working on Agony we knew we wanted to go further on our way of writing and thinking our music and for a certain period we spent time trying different options. Then we just realized that what we were searching for was something that could be as close as possible to the concept of symphony. In some way we have always passed through this kind of process. That’s why we decided to enlarge the lineup and to use a different way of writing this time. Basically what we need is not to get bored writing and playing our music, as well as not feel stocked into something that we don’t feel comfortable in. We started writing the album from the orchestra and the drums this time, instead of the guitars, and thought about the other instruments as a part of the ensemble. It all had to come out with our sound and our way of expressing ourselves, brutally and always in-your-face. I have to admit that making these choices has caused some troubles, challenges that we had to face to leave it all listenable and at the same time with the sound pressure we wanted it to have. In this process Stefano “Saul” Morabito, the producer we worked with, has made an awesome job, becoming for the whole recording period one of us and sharing in every way the good and the bad moments.

How was your experience working on the music video for ‘The Violation’?
It has been a lot of fun indeed! Actually it was pretty much the first experience of that kind for almost all of us and it has been really interesting, other than hard as 18 hours of shooting in a row can be. Haha!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjKyzwqIT7s

How do you guys work on the lyrics of the album? Please tell us the writing and recording process you follow.
Paolo, our bassist, usually writes the lyrics, starting from the concept we state from the beginning of the writing process. Most of the times the lyrics are ready when we enter in the studio, or at least a good part of it and then, in some cases we adapt what needs to be changed during the session. We always start from the concept and follow the lines we give to all the single tracks to make the record a one-piece from the beginning to the end. Both the music and the lyrics have to reflect the path we want the listener to follow with the album flowing song after song.

‘Agony’ was the first album that was released under Nuclear Blast Records. How has it been working out so far?
So good so far. We’re extremely happy about how it’s going and so it’s the label so far. When we came out with it at first we were afraid (as always) about the fact that we put such a bunch of new things in our sound and we didn’t know how people would have reacted to that, but it turned into a huge success for us and in some way the situation confirmed what we always thought: if you write and play music you believe in, people will always notice it and enjoy.

In terms releases, the band is very consistent. Shall we expect something by the end of 2012 or early 2013?
Actually we’re now touring so much and we hadn’t got the time to put together all the ideas we already have for the next album, but we will as soon as we have a period off and we’ll be working and focusing on that for sure soon. I’d say that more likely we’ll be out with a new record by the first part of 2013, not sure about when though. We’re always anxious to unleash the ideas, so the sooner it is the best it is.

Our readers (and also me myself) want to know about the metal scene in Italy.
The scene in Italy is getting more solid every year and you’d get surprised about how many good bands we have. Actually what has always labeled our country as a “small” scene is the narrowminded way of doing and handling music. We still need to learn alot on how to set things about it, not only for the bands, but for the venues and the people working in the scene with different positions. By the way there are always more good thing and people around and it’ll get better and better. I’m sure that you’ll hear about other new bands from Italy soon. You can already take a look to great bands such as Hour of Penance, Eyeconoclast, The Modern Age Slavery, the almighty Natron, Subhuman and so on.

From the music you make, it’s pretty obvious that you listen to a wide range of music. Which are your favorite bands/artists?
We all are music fans and metal fans. If you ask everyone in the band you’ll hear very different bands and artists as favorites. For me personally there are a lot of bands and artists I love. Rammstein are great, Immortal, Nile, Behemoth, Enslaved, Cannibal Corpse and Monstrosity to name a few in the extreme metal scene, but there are so much more not even in the same music area. Classical music, Rock, Grunge, even Pop music. So as you see too much to mention.

The band has been continuously touring  any countries, and also with few big names. Which has been your most memorable tour/gig till date?
Well it’s always very hard to say this, but I think that so far the most memorable tour has been the Summer Slaughter Fest in North America last summer. During that tour we had the chance to play beautiful venues with great bands (and great people) and in front of big crowds. Every tour in some way is memorable for one thing or another and in general the touring experience is one of the most interesting thing a musician can take part of.

(Second) Last question, which gear do you guys use?
Ok I’m gonna go with the list now:
Ddrum Drums
Ufip Cymbals
Roland triggers and modules
Yamaha keyboards
Korg keyboards
ESP guitars and basses
Peavey amps
Marshall cabinets
Boss and Ibanez stomps
Ignite Amps custom gear (amps, stomps)

Thanks a lot for your time, man. It’s been an honor interacting with you. All the best for your upcoming endeavors. Hope to see you live in India, soon. Anything you’d like to say to our readers and your fans worldwide?
Thank you! The honor is mine! I really hope we can make it to India soon as well! My last word are: guys, keep on having fun and enjoying the good music! Support the bands you like because they exist and always will thanks to you!

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