Nick Vasallo has one hell of a résumé – he's known as the "Father Of Deathcore" from his work with Antagony, for his work with Oblivion, and as a composer with epic performances from a variety of university orchestras and new music ensembles. Now Vasallo is streaming his second classical-meets-metal solo album Apophany in full, which is of course demanding but absolutely worth every second of your attention.
"I see musical connections to non-musical ideas all the time. It's very subjective and that is the point of Apophany. Apophany is 10 years worth of these disparate musical connections," said Vasallo. "It is long, and uses the maximum duration possible on a CD, nearly 80 minutes. It is an epic journey from one end of the genre spectrum to the other. When you arrive it feels like you're back but you're in another world.
"Basically it starts off squarely in the orchestral realm and then ends up back in the orchestral realm with a virtuosic thrash metal concerto. To fully accept the bend, you must put yourself in a place to experience the ride with no other distractions. Music listening, in itself, is an activity that requires commitment."
Apophany is out March 18. Pre-orders are available here.
