– Hello, thanks for taking the time. What are you guys currently up to?

Hi! Nice to be here! We’re in the middle of our so-called vacation after the Summer Slaughter Tour..actually it’s just a week to recover after a very hard period of work, but it’s almost over. We’re gonna be back on work soon to take care of everything we’ll need for the next months. We’re gonna leave again for the US at the end of the month and will be on the Carnival is Forever Tour with Decapitated, Decrepit Birth, Rings of Saturn and The Harp Machine.

– First of all, I would like you to make some history of FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE.

The band was born in 2007. At first it was Francesco Paoli, Paolo Rossi and me, with another drummer. After some months we had to change drummer because of job problems and after a period of research Francesco Paoli decided to try his ass out behind the kit (he used to be the Singer and the Guitarplayer). It went good. Tommaso Riccardi joined the band as singer and guitarplayer and we finally found a stable lineup. After the ep «Mafia» came out (following the first full length «Oracles»), the live activity of Fleshgod

began much more busy and the band approached the United States, being on tour with Suffocation. On early 2011 FA signed with Nuclear Blast Records and Francesco Ferrini (pianist and orchestrator) joined the band as a full-time member. Before this past summer the band came out with the new cd «Agony» while on the Summer Slaughter Tour in North America.

 

– And what are the band’s main musical influences?

Our main influences can be located in different musical areas. Of course into our roots and background you can find all the Death Metal biggest bands, such as Suffo, Deicide, Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse etc. Then you got our classical influences, from where it comes our will to melt this two different worlds. Composers as Rossini, Bellini, Verdi, Vivaldi, Mahler, Behetoven, Brahms etc are always into our lists. As well as Rammstein, which is one of our favorite band, not only from a musical point of view, but from a visual one as well. They put on a show which is something we’d love to reach.

 

– You have recently released your latest «Agony»; how’s being its feedback so far?

I would say beyond expectations! It’s being so good! The album has been released in North America first and the in Europe and in both cases we received an enormous positive feedback and we are superstocked about it.

 

– One of your trademarks have always been those opera parts (I’d dare say this time you have gone even further), in fact there have been great composers from Italy. What composers have been an inspiration for you?

The italian composers we listen to are, are as I said, all the great ones. Verdi, Rossini, Vivaldi, Bellini, Paganini etc. The classical music for us has a very important weight and with this album we made a step closer to what we always wanted to do: an extreme metal symphony.

 

– This time around you have included some lyrics dealing with Italian mafia in addition to your usual topics. Where did you take inspiration from for these kind of subjects?

We always want to give to our albums a specific topic, something we believe in and which is worth to talk about. We think that if you have the chance to speak to the people, it’s worthy to let them know how you see your world and to make them, when possible, think about something they could not be thinking about. With «Mafia» we wanted to treat a theme which is a big problem for our country and to let people know how we hate the way this king of criminal organization acts and behaves.

 

– We can find as bonus track a cover cor CARCASS’ «Heartwork». I would like you to tell us a bit about; why did you choose that concrete song, what changes did you do to it, etc.

When we choose a cover to do we always take the music we love and respect that we’d like to hear in a Fleshgod way. It’s basically a matter of curiosity in the beginning and it becomes a kind of challenge for us making a version of something already known and loved, changing, arranging and remaking it in our way. We actually apply in some way the schemas and the «rules» we use on our music on the song and try to give it a new scenario, making it sound as a Fleshgod song.

 

– You also filmed a video for «The Violation»; what could you tell us about it?

It has been fun to shoot that video, even if very hard. We have shot it in south Italy in a big and old house (a perfect place for us to locate our video). Working with Salvatore Perrone has been so good, he is really well prepared and developed our idea of the whole thing in a perfect way. We are really satisfied with it and hope to have the chance to shoot a new video soon.

 

– For the album’s artwork you have worked once more with Marco Hasmann, so I guess you may be quite satisfied with his creations…

We are. We have always worked with Marco until now because we like to have a common line between the works. Anyway Fleshgod is evolving every step we make and it all comes up with something new overtime, so we always want to get better on every aspect of our work.

 

– You have released two full-length albums so far; your debut was released by Candlelight Records and this new one via Nuclear Blast; what made you guys move? Do you feel more preassure working with big labels like these ones for each new release?

Well we hope to work with Nuclear Blast for a long time now! We are working very good with them and everything is different being with them. All the specific aspects of a band’s work are planned in a deeper way and we deal with a lot of people taking care of every different part of the job. It’s easier when you know that the people you work with are used to deal with the situation you are going to deal with. Willowtip Records and Candlelight Records have been really good to us, but it came the moment for us to work in a different way.

 

– You are now touring the States; how’s everything going?

We just got home back from the Summer Slaughter Tour in North America and it has been so good! It’s an hard tour but on it you have the chance to play in front of a lot of people and with very good bands, in good and big venues.

 

– And you will soon start a tour with DECAPITATED among others; what are your expectations?

It’s gonna be awesome. We already know Decapitated and Decrepit Birth sice we already payed with both those bands. It feel more like home being on a tour with known bands. Moreover it’s our third tour in the US and we are starting getting friends and good crowds there. It’s amazing to be there, overtime is better.

 

– In fact you have already toured with well-known bands as SUFFOCATION among many others. What has been your best gig so far?

Hehe. This is too difficult to say. Personally I have the memories of some awesome nights and gigs, but can’t really say what was the best one. For example the last gig of the Summer Slaughter has been so much fun! We exchanged the costumes with Poverglove and I passed the entire set laughing.

 

– Now going into a more offtopic question; how’s like the Metal scene in Italy?

It’s growing up so fast! Every year you can hear a new good metal band. I’m sure that in the future all the world will know about more italian metal bands.

 

– Finally, what are your near-future plans (beside touring)?

Well besides touring we will take care about the visual evolution of the band, and of course we’ll be back on writing as soon as we’ll be able to take some moments off. Right now we are really busy with tours, to promote Agony in the best way, but we’ll be thinking about the other aspects of our project

soon.

 

– That’s all, thanks once more for your time. If you would like to add some final words; last lines are yours.

Thank you so much! It’s always good to speak with some spanish friend. We really hope to be back there soon touring, we’ve always had great times in Spain! Take care guys! See you on the road! Cheers!

 

Sergio Fernández

sergio@queensofsteel.com

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