The Order of Apollyon is a Black/Death Metal superground from the UK. There has been much talk about this group, but until today, they had yet to release an album. The band initially formed back in 2008, and features members of such well known acts as Cradle of Filth, Aborted, Akercocke, and even Trigger the Bloodshed. With a lineage as strong as this, tacked on with the many other bands that the members of this four-piece are involved with, it seems almost impossible for their debut full-length effort, The Flesh, to be a bad album. Of course, sometimes these releases do wind up being bad due to all the various influences coming into the picture. Luckily, The Flesh is not one of those types of releases.
Of course, there's pretty clear indication that there are certain bands that influence this recording more then others, which are all of those mentioned in the above paragraph, with the exception of Trigger the Bloodshed, though that band does appear once in a while, such as during the track "Fifth". The music holds a certain atmosphere that seems rather light, not being as rich as one would expect, but definitely there a subtle presence."Word" winds up being one of those tracks, due mostly to the background vocal harmonizations that would adorn a more ritualistic style of music, and the slower, more commanding music giving off a more gothic feel to it that is stylish, but nowhere near a capacity of a Symphonic Black Metal release.
The Flesh manages to bring a good amount of variety to the mix due to the bands that each member works with. There's no actual problem with that, and in fact it helps keep the album from becoming stale and repetitive. The only time it does play a negative factor into the recording is when the material seems to move out of the band's Black/Death metal foundation that they lay out on the earlier tracks, and with the atmospheric introductory track "God Speaks". "Fifth" plays a part in this, as it takes more of a Trigger the Bloodshed approach then anything else, and it winds up leaving behind some of the more gothic-tinged Blackened Death that appears throughout the recording. "White Dust" also offers up a little more variety to the mix, though it stays true more to a Death Metal sound then anything, and also doesn't really feature that gothic atmosphere, but the music is solid to begin with and doesn't necessarily need that atmosphere behind it, though it would have been a nice touch either way.
The only time the album seems to drop the ball would be during the interlude near the end entitled "Ex-Voto". This intrumental ambient piece is not a bad track, but feels tacked on in it's position, which happens to be the second to last track. It doesn't necessarily bleed into the last track, but winds up just being a long, overdrawn track that is meant to give off a feeling of a dismal atmosphere, but instead just feels drawn out and misplaced. This track would have been much better if it were just used as the outro the album, especially since it just feel like the track just lays there were it is, not doing anything for the album. But, other thent hat, the introduction track, "God Speaks" sets up the recording nicely, and "Ich Bin Das Licht" follows through effectively to lay the foundation for the rest of the album, which all but a few tracks, such as "Fifth" and "White Dust" seem to stick by. The other two tracks take things off into a flow that clearly shies away from Black Metal in general, and ultimately shows more of a Trigger the Bloodshot intensity then a dark, gothic feeling.
All in all, The Flesh by The Order of Apollyon really is an impressive CD, and about what you would expect given the backgrounds of the four members involved. The release has a dark atmosphere that works well with the overall sound the band establishes from the start, and even though some tracks can become a little rocky at times, they never really seem to lose sight of the objective fully. There's only one track that feels genuinely misplaced, and ultimately just becomes a massive letdown to the end of the release in the long run, which is very disheartening. But, aside that, The Flesh is a strong effort that shouldn't be ignored.
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