SEPTICFLESH Titan CD (2014)

There are death metal bands, and then there are death metal bands with a full orchestral budget and the compositional vision to actually use it. Septicflesh's 2014 album Titan is the latter, a record that sounds genuinely cinematic without losing the brutality that made the Greek band one of the most important names in extreme metal.

Recorded with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and produced with the kind of scope that makes most symphonic death metal records sound like a Casio left in a rehearsal room, Titan lands somewhere between ancient mythology and contemporary horror. Tracks like Prototype and Order of Dracul showcase what Septicflesh do better than almost anyone, which is write death metal that feels genuinely enormous. If your dark aesthetic runs toward the orchestral and the epic, this is a cornerstone record for that collection. Greece has always punched well above its weight in extreme metal, and this is one of the reasons why.

Standard jewel case CD, 2014 pressing. Atmospheric/symphonic death metal, Greece. Fans of: Rotting Christ, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Behemoth, Samael, Hypocrisy.