FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE & SHADOW OF INTENT: The Black Opera Across North America 2024

Fleshgod Apocalypse is an Italian death metal band. Formed in 2007, the group resides in Perugia and are currently signed to Nuclear Blast. They have released four full-length albums, most recently King on February 5, 2016. Fleshgod Apocalypse was formed in April 2007 by Hour of Penance frontman Francesco Paoli and recorded their first demo, Promo '07, at 16th Cellar Studio, in Rome, with producer Stefano "Saul" Morabito, releasing it shortly after. The demo was re-released the following year on a split CD with fellow Italian bands Septycal Gorge, Modus Delicti and Onirik.

Shadow of Intent is an American metal band based in New England originally formed by Ben Duerr and Chris Wiseman in 2014. The band continues to release their music independently including their first album Primordial (2016), second album Reclaimer (2017) and very recently their latest work Melancholy (2019). The band name and lyrics were originally derived from lore from the Halo franchise and since then the band’s subject matter has become more dark and personal, while maintaining an element of fantasy and wonder. The band’s music is heavily built off of various different genres of metal including death metal, black metal, symphonic metal, progressive metal, and metalcore. The band played their first live show at the end of 2017, which then lead to them embarking on several US tours with bands such as The Black Dahlia Murder, Whitechapel, Carnifex, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Despised Icon, and more. The bands lineup today consists of Ben Duerr (Vocals), Chris Wiseman (Guitar, Vocals, Keyboards), Anthony Barone (Drums) and Andrew Monias (Bass).

Mancunian slam crew INGESTED have built a reputation as one of the most savage death metal acts to come out of the UK for a long time. Punishing beat-downs, epic riffage, guttural vocals and blistering speed are just some of the weapons in Ingested's musical arsenal. 2015 now sees Ingested return with their heaviest offering yet in the form of "The Architect Of Extinction", mixed by Christian Donaldson (Cryptopsy) and featuring mind blowing artwork from Toshihiro Egawa (who also did the artwork for the band's debut record). "The Architect Of Extinction" will be released January 12th on Century Media Records in Europe. Jason Evans (vocals) comments: "It's took us three albums and two EP's to find our sound, our identity as a band. This album is Ingested in it's purest form; nihilistic, slamming death metal. Every lyric, guitar riff and drum beat on this album is delivered with utter sincerity, we fucking mean it this time. This is the album we have always wanted to create, this is THE ARCHITECT OF EXTINCTION. Once again we enlisted the amazing art talents of Toshihiro Egawa, who we worked with on our debut album "Surpassing the Boundaries of Human Suffering" to produce yet another stunning, brutal masterpiece to compliment the audio assault we've captured on disc. This album was mixed by Christian Donaldson (Beneath the Massacre, The Last Felony and Cryptopsy) and features guest appearances by Julian Kersey (Aegaeon), Taylor Wientjes (The Kennedy Veil), James Schuster (Eighty Thousand Dead / Delusional Parasitosis) and Alex Terible (Slaughter to Prevail) who have contributed their very own brand of brutality to this record. This is our most definitive work to date and we can't wait to unleash it on the world."

It was in early 2012 that a small recording collaboration between two friends (Justin McKinney and Greg Hampton) began to coalesce into something that would prove to be well more than the sum of its parts. The Zenith Passage may have come about from humble beginnings in a stuffy Los Angeles apartment, but the produce thereof is anything BUT humble. Even the earliest demo tracks delivered a relentless torrent of technical guitar work accompanied by a distinctly frenetic and brutal vocal delivery that has since become an unmistakable hallmark in a scene that is all too often the victim of stagnation. Far from being strictly a shredfest, TZP also incorporates a thematic backbone that draws inspiration from the chaotic and awesome destructive powers of our universe. Progressive interludes invoke a palpable sense of abstract dread and reverence for things beyond mortal comprehension. The atmosphere created clearly nods to inspiration drawn from legendary acts such as Deeds of Flesh, Soreption, Fallujah, Severed Savior, and Aeon. The project's initial offerings generated enough buzz in social media circles alone to convince the duo to redouble their efforts in earnest, and to begin seeking out members to complete their lineup. This proved no small task in a saturated market, but persistent scouting over to following months precipitated the addition of friend and drummer Josh Slater (Aethere) into the mix. The subsequent release of a proper EP in January 2013 (entitled "Cosmic Dissonance") catapulted TZP's recognition to previously unprecedented heights, greatly broadening their fanbase, and catching the attention and admiration of some of California's foremost metal musicians. Not long thereafter, it was announced that Rob Maramonte (ex-Fallujah) would also be stepping in to lend his talents and fill the role of second guitarist. With the onset of all these new developments, and the lineup nearing completion, it seemed only natural to take the next step and join the ranks of those by whom they had been so heavily influenced. Thus, in the summer of 2013, TZP had the honor of signing on with Unique Leader Records for a multi-album deal. The stage is currently set for TZP to secure their foothold in topmost reaches of the metal pantheon, and they are hard at work churning out new content for their debut full-length. Rest assured, this marks only the beginning. The world has only just set foot onto the passage towards the pinnacle, the apex, the Xenith. BLEGH.