Review by Adam M on February 25, 2016.

Fleshgod Apocalypse performs a type of death metal that is both brutal and symphonic. This is a very diverse form of death metal that sounds unique and fresh for the most part.

Though things are played at ridiculously fast speeds a lot of the time, the music still manages to be memorable. This music is bombastic and performed at a high rate. It is the product of skilled musicians. The symphonic elements on the disc make things more vibrant and varied. They are very similar in nature to what Septic Flesh uses to augment their music. Songs like Syphillis radiate with the warm glow of variety. This particular song ends off with operatic vocals that help make it a standout on the release. There are several other operatic moments on the disc, but it’s the symphonic instrumentation that takes priority here. This makes the sound of the band huge and gives it a lot of dimension. Like Septic Flesh, the symphonic elements are only used to augment the music rather than stand alone. The music is given a thicker and larger than life sound with the added symphonic approach. The added punch gives them an edge over many other metal bands.

However, King isn’t perfect. Some of the songs begin to sound much the same to one another. Despite the symphonic approach, there could still be more variety amongst the types of musical elements being used. The music takes a lot of time to grasp and get used to and with more disparate elements it may have been easier to let sink in. The overall effect is a nice one for fans of the symphonic approach, however. There is just a lot of music to take in here and most of it is successful in winning the listener over.

Rating: 8 out of 10