Fleshgod Apocalypse to release new album in May; premiere “Sugar” music video

Finally! Fleshgod Apocalypse have revealed details on their follow-up to 2016’s King. The Italian symphonic death metal giants’ overall fifth studio effort Valeno will be released on May 24th via Nuclear Blast. The record will be a first with Francesco Paoli on lead vocals since their debut album, 2009’s Oracles as Tommaso Riccardi left the group in 2017. This record also marks a first without guitarist Cristiano Trionfera who left the band back in 2017. Moving forward with the group’s more orchestral-driven direction, they’ve unleashed the Giovanni Bucci directed video for the new song “Sugar.”

Paoli commented on working with director Bucci:

“I met Giovanni Bucci a couple of years ago, while collaborating on his own band ODDKO. We soon became good friends, so we started talking about having him as director for Fleshgod’s new videos. He is a true visionary, with amazing directing and production skills. He’s been making music videos for bands like Korn, and he also has a shining career in the movie industry. We all agreed that he would’ve been the key to a huge step forward for us, visually and artistically, especially on a video like this, which was also extremely complex to produce and shoot. The result is on your screen now, and it’s better than any description.

Just hit the play button and enjoy.”

Watch the clip below and pre-order the album here:

The “metal part” of Valeno was recorded in Rome, Italy at Bloom Recording Studio and Kick Studio with long-standing collaborator Marco Mastrobuono. The orchestral part of the record was tracked at Musica Teclas Studio in Perugia. The album was mixed and mastered by Jacob Hansen (Epica, The Black Dahlia Murder) at Hansen Studios in Denmark.

Paoli expressed his excitement on the new record:

“Today is the day. A first taste of our new album, VELENO, is finally available for you all. No words can describe how excited we are and how long we waited for this moment. What you see is the harvest of three years of sweat, revolutions, intense emotions and extreme challenges. We proved ourselves to be stronger than ever, despising compromises, setting the bar higher no matter what. The album is massive to say the least. Every song is a unique piece, literally alive and breathing. Can’t wait for you guys to hear the rest…”

Fleshgod Apocalypse made their live debut of their new song “Fury” at this year’s 70000tons of metal. We spoke to the band about their decision to premiere the track and you can watch the discussion here.

Track List: