Septic Flesh

[Wolfgang]

Checked this band out during an insomniac listening session. Bizarre.

Ophidian Wheel was pretty sweet. What else is worth checking out?

[fallot]

Both preceding albums are alright. Have to brace yourself for cheese though.

[Heydrich]

Awful - even worse live.

[Parasite]

I really like Mystic Places of Dawn, there is a lot of great ideas on that album, its definitely worth your time if you enjoyed Ophidian Wheel.  I have been meaning to give their latest a "try" at least but i fear it is probably just Dimmu style garbage.  Anyways.. check out their first album.

[Whisper]

Disregard all the above and for God's sake listen to the first two (Temple of the Lost Race is also intriguing, if not on par). I'm gonna go all out and state that I find said releases to be some of the best metal material ever written. Good continuity between tracks, excellent compositions, amazing riffcraft. Essentially a hybrid of heavy metal circularity and melodic aesthetic, and death metal rhythmic/melodic progressions. I find Ophidian Wheel to be severely pale in comparison. The new stuff is horrendous, of course.

[Invisible Sandwich]

When it comes to Septic Flesh, you should note that there is a gradual, but significant trend towards mainstream interest starting, if not on Esoptron, at least on Ophidian Wheel. By my standards, this only really became detrimental to the songwriting after the two aforementioned albums. Even on their lauded return to form (2003's "Sumerian Daemons") and recent works, structures and writing have become simpler, more rock-like. The band's main strength appears to be in the construction of simple, but powerful riffs and leads, which probably gives their pop music period an advantage over the CoF/DB school of symphonic metal.

Personally, I'd put post-1997 Septic Flesh on the level of later Therion - obviously diminished in comparison to their earlier works, but with good levels of musicality and some moments of transcendence. Definitely appealing to novices, and fans of symphonic metal, but rather predictable, and with limited shelf life. Then again, I have a very high tolerance for theater and cheese in my music.