Album Review: Speticflesh - Codex Omega

Band:  Septicflesh
Album:  Codex Omega
Release Date:  September 1st, 2017
Genre:  Symphonic Death Metal
Rating:  9/10

I was rather excited to see that Septicflesh had finally dropped a new album.  I've been waiting for this since the "good but not great" release that was Titan back in 2014.

I've gotta say, I'm incredibly happy with where they went musically in this album compared to Titan.  The music is a lot riff heavier, but it doesn't sacrifice any of the edge that the orchestra gave it either.  Right out the gate we start with Dante's Inferno and it's very very SF traditional orchestra work.  However, this is also a song that allows a very important part of the band to shine.  The new drummer.

I'm Not trying to blow smoke either, so I went and re-listened to chunks of Titan and The Great Mass (one of my all time favorite albums) to check drum differences.  Good lord it's night and day.  Not only is this drummer just...  better, he's also mixed better than the last one.

That's honestly a lot of my takeaway from this release, they are much better at mixing tracks than they used to be.  The orchestra isn't as overpowering and the drums are rather present.  My only issue with them honestly is the vocalist doesn't sound as demonic as he used to.  He still does at times, but for the most part he seems to have changed the way he screams and it's not as horrific.

One of the things I love about these guys is the fact that they are just dark.  Dark music is something I've fallen in love with over the last few years and Septicflesh has delivered on such great, emotion filled content for me in that regard that as long as their new music doesn't sound anything like Sumerian Demons or Ophidian Wheel era Septicflesh I'll be happy.

That isn't to say this isn't a good release though.  Technically and musically it's a much grander piece than Titan.  Thematically it's incredibly different from The Great Mass as well, and I feel that was a good choice.  If they had tried to keep the same sound I don't think it would have worked any better than Titan had.

So I want to give you standout tracks like I generally would, but I just can't here, there's too many good ones to narrow it down fairly.  That being said, some of my favorites include Enemy Of Truth, Dark Art, Portrait Of A Headless Man, and Faceless Queen.  While the whole album is worth the about 50 minutes it takes to listen to you should at least check out those 4 and the title track.

All in all I give this release a very strong 9.  I look forward to becoming more familiar with it as the week rolls on.

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A to Z 2K17 Runner Up: S is for Septicflesh

Artist:  Septicflesh
Song:  Communion
Album:  Communion
Genre:  Symphonic Death Metal

Before Septicflesh became the titan of the Symphonic Death Metal community they are today, they were a rather disappointing Blackened Death Metal group.  When I say disappointing I really mean that.  It wasn't fantastic music, and while I know a lot of people would write off most Metal acts as just trash anyway this was honestly not great.  From 1990 to 2003 they had a sort of cult following, but that was about it.

After a 4 year split however they came back with a huge powerhouse album, Communion.

Communion was a huge change in their sound, not only because they got good, but because it seemed to create a sound for them to unify behind.  They didn't have an orchestra back in the 90s to play with, so when they started incorporating in in Communion (the album and the song), it was a rather big change.

While this album isn't the symphonic masterpiece that The Great Mass is, it isn't a bad album by any means.

Hope you enjoy it, see you with T tomorrow.

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Septicflesh - The Vampire From Nazareth

Band:  Septicflesh
Genre:  Symphonic Death Metal

This hearkens back to my very first blog post back in September of 2014.  I had agonized over what I should have posted at the time; I was really trying not to sound too basic but I was also trying not to go too far out there.  Well I suppose I totally failed since I totally opened up with a Symphonic Death Metal song which basically made me the edgiest I possibly could be.

It was horrible at the time trying to not pick a "classic" song that I thought people would have posted a million times, and it was also really difficult trying to pick the voice of my blog.  I started out a little fact heavy at first because I thought that was the only way my blog could be interesting.  That was a great idea up until I totally ran out of easy facts.  For real, I had no idea how to manage to get a lot of things that would keep the posts interesting.  I'm really glad I decided to stray away from the that format, cause that would have made this whole thing a lot more stressful than it needed to be.  For crying out loud, I post a song every day, there's no way I could possibly get all of them to have an individual tidbit of info, you know what I mean?

But hey though, here's The Vampire From Nazareth, a wonderful horrific sounding song.  This is probably the pinnacle of the album with the way that the Symphonic aspect blends with the Blackened Death Metal.

Hey hey, I'm back to being hella edgy.  Yeh.

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Septicflesh - Titan

Band:  Septicflesh (Septic Flesh)
Genre:  Symphonic Death Metal

These guys may not seem as heavy as some of the other bands I've already posted, but I assure you they have their moments.  I'm sure you're wondering how I could possible count them here since they have that backing symphony (the Prague Philharmonic), but I assure you they manage to hold their own place with the rest of this list.

The thing I love most about this song is the stark contrast between the choir and the harsh vocals and the symphony and the guitars.  It's really quite cool to listen to, so even if you don't want to listen to any of the rest of this week check out this song.  Or even this song.

Septicflesh - Pyramid god

New year means I can use the band from my first ever post again!  Yay!

So Septicflesh is that Symphonic Death Metal band from Greece we heard waaaaaay back in September.  I know, that was ages ago.

This is possible the best song they have, though each of their songs get me in a different way each time I listen, so you know.  It's a tossup.

Something you may have noticed is I've started writing less and less for things a lot of the time.  Sorry about that, I really would rather give you something to read, but I'm absolute trash at writing.

Personal Top Albums of 2014

Happy New Year all!  It's been a fun 3 months so far, hasn't it?  I feel like the new year should be heralded in by the best of last year though, so let's get to it.

Let's preface this by saying that I'm not really an authority on all music since my primary focus was with metal this year, but I still think this will be a good list.

No let us start in no particular order.

Septicflesh - Titan

I found these guys some time last year and they became my favorite artist for something like a good 6 months, which for anybody familiar with my music tastes you know that's actually a really long time to hold the top spot.

Demon Hunter - Extremist

Demon Hunter is a band that I've loved since I first was introduced to metal.  They currently hold the award of "That band I always wonder why I stop listening to them ever" that other bands have had till I listened to them again.  These guys are my favorite band ever so far and I think you should give this album a listen, because it's legitimately amazing.

Cannibal Corpse - A Skeletal Domain

You may remember this album gracing the list as my first ever album review.  It still holds a place as a really good album and one of the best I heard last year.  To be totally fair, I missed a lot of stuff from last year, but this is still good stuff if you like Death Metal.

Whitechapel - Our Endless War

I was on a Whitechapel kick when this album came out, so I got it.  It's still Deathcore though and that doesn't appeal to a lot of people.  As an album though it's not too bad.  Some kinda dumb sounding lyrics, but the music makes up for it.

Alestorm - Sunset on the Golden Age  *I was unable to find the full album, so a single song will have to do.

I didn't even realize this was a new album when I bought it last month, but as it turns out this was a really good choice to make.  It's a solid Alestorm album and a pretty goof Folk Metal album as well.  If you liked the one song I posted before you should listen to this because it's all really good.

Weird Al - Mandatory Fun

I know guys.
"Whoa, Noah likes stuff that's not metal?  No, this must be a lie."
"Dude no, he posts crappy rap music all the time too, so you know his taste in music is garbage."

However you may feel about Weird Al I will tell you that he is a genius.  This was his last album that will be released he has said so that he can keep up with music better.  All singles and such from here on out.  As you listen you'll note that he has songs on here that were "in" quite a while ago now, so you can see where he's coming from.