Chosen by Monk
My latest selection is a suitably epic declaration by Italian symphonic death metallers Fleshgod Apocalypse, who are contrarily proclaiming that they can can never die with this preview of what we can expect from their upcoming sixth studio album.
Commenting on the song, frontman Francesco Paoli states:
Memory is the strongest force in the universe, as it’s the one and only that can give us immortality. It can’t be deceived or shaped to our liking as, in the end, we are what we do and what we leave to posterity faithfully reflects what kind of men and women we’ve been. Some people don’t give the right value to their actions, focusing on immediate profit, and forgetting that our choices have a decisive impact on our and other people’s existence. Especially when you are an artist. It’s essential to remember that everything we create outlives us, it has a life of its own and, once it’s brought into existence, it belongs to everyone and we have no more control over it.
Death can occur abruptly any time and there’s no chance to change what it’s done, once we’re gone. As far as I’m concerned, one of my first thoughts when I realized that I could have died was “who have I been” and “what am I leaving behind”. I recollected my whole life and figured out how much determination, sacrifice and honesty I’ve put into art and that made me so proud that I would have died in peace.
That’s why we wrote this song, which is nothing but a glorious anthem for all those who commit their existence to art in the purest possible way.
Director Martina L. McLean adds about the music video:
‘I Can Never Die’ is the third video created by me and my team, Sanda Movies, in collaboration with Fleshgod Apocalypse, for the Opera cycle. For a song with such a profound and universal meaning – a true anthem to the value of art and the artist – I wanted to contribute to the visual aspect by creating an experimental video, entirely guided by inspiration, lots of different approaches, techniques, and obviously too many of hours of editing.
Drawing from the infernal and chaotic masterpieces of Hieronymus Bosch, but ranging through styles and times, the band brings to life infinite, hypothetical paintings. As always, my applause goes to the band, who always give their best, both in the most extreme sets and in those where everything is left to the imagination.
The upcoming album, ‘Opera’, is inspired by an almost fatal climbing accident Paoli experienced in 2021, as he extrapolated:
The best stories always come from pain, it’s a bitter truth yet undeniable. That’s why human struggles have always been an unending source of inspiration for artists throughout history. But one thing is creating art that gives voice to someone else’s tribulations, another is accepting to bare your soul to the world and reveal your weaknesses and frailties, while attempting to turn them into new resources for your own creativity. It’s a dangerous game, since we never know what our twisted mind has in store for us, but it’s a game you must play if you really want to bring your art to the highest level and leave a trace that has a deeper meaning, not just mere entertainment for distracted people.
After my fall while mountain climbing, I woke up in a hospital, underwent several surgeries, constantly getting terrible news and spending many months not knowing if I would ever be able to play an instrument again. I felt condemned. Fear, painkillers, wheelchairs have been daily food for my frustration. Retracing what happened that day, as well as the days, months, years after, has been such an exhausting and frightening journey, in which I had to face my demons once again and deal with memories I hoped I had left behind.
Was all this worth it? Let the others tell. All I can say is that, although it was clear that this was the right thing to do, we could not even remotely imagine how strongly this process would have affected our songwriting, igniting our creativity and reinvigorating our attitude after years of deep coma due to the pandemic. We managed to turn one of the worst things in life into a work of art, that embodies our personal and artistic growth and takes the listeners on a rollercoaster of emotions, where they can experience what I’ve been through hand in hand with me. It’s a waking nightmare but that’s how life is sometimes, just scary.
In the tradition of the musical form from which it takes its title, the album tells Paoli’s story in ten musical acts:
In my visionary representation of this journey, that begins with my near death experience and culminates in a much desired physical and psychological rebirth, I wanted to frame every single step of my calvary, as if they were acts of an “Opera Lirica”, with dialogues or even confessions to imaginary characters, who have been constant presences throughout my whole (mis)adventure.
Death, Life, Hope are among these entities, masterfully interpreted by Veronica, that from time to time assist or prevent me from digging deeper in my memory and personality, examining objectively my emotional states and behaviors and finding a sense to all this.
This album tosses you in a vortex of discomfort and uncontrollable feelings, where you can experience pain, fear, desperation, anger, frustration, but also resolve, courage, hope and a profound desire for redemption.
In fact, besides being grateful for the privilege of sharing my personal experience through Fleshgod Apocalypse art, I strongly believe that this album is a solid manifest of resilience, and I hope that my story will inspire people who got “lost” for whatever reason. Since the accident I’ve been posting on socials about my rehab and received hundreds of messages of appreciation for that. People need motivation, need examples that can make them restart believing in themselves. And for me, this is part of the game, this is the best way I can give them something back after all these years of loving support.
Life is a wonderful thing, even when everything around us seems to be falling apart we must find a meaning for existing and, unexpectedly, sometimes second chances can be way more exciting than the first ones.
- ‘Opera‘ is released on 23 August via Nuclear Blast.