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AKERCOCKE ‘Choronzon ’ (Earache Records) (2004)
Being in a Death Metal gig with Akercocke as a support act has become
something like a second nature to me. Over the past two years, I have seen
the band performing from small venues like Glasgow's King Tut's, to larger
ones like the Camden Palace, and it has been a pleasure watching them each
and every time. You understand of course that when Sarah from Earache
Records offered to send me a copy of the band's latest release"Choronzon", I
was more than happy to accept her offer.
I really enjoy the unusual mixture of melodic and Black Metal elements to
the extreme technical Death Metal sound that the band has adopted over the
years, and "Choronzon" is an album capable of providing you all those
beautiful controversies!
"Praise the Name of Satan" is a perfect intro for the album, but not the
kind of thing you will like to listen with your Grandmother being present in
the same room. Want to listen to a really "evil" intro? Forget the sounds of
Wolves howling and of winds blowing that all the Norwegian Black Metal bands
use. "Prince Of The North" is a two-minute composition with a very
interesting variety of Middle-Eastern sounds, and a great intro to the
amazing "Leviathan".
A catchy riff will introduce you to what I believe is the best song of the album. Melody does have a place in Death Metal, and
Akercocke is one of these bands that understand this really well. Excellent
clears vocals and impressive drumming are the key elements in this song,
with the guitars providing their beautiful melodies, and a very solid
performance by the bassist of the band - really impressive.
What? You need to listen to something fast? Don't worry ‘cause the next
track "Enraptured By Evil" will do it's very best to satisfy your wish. If
you like the hyper-speed guitar playing of Deicide and the aggressiveness of
Morbid Angel, this song is exactly what you're looking for.
After the two-minute intro "Choronzon", comes another killer track called
"Valley Of The Crucified", which is deeply influenced by Burzum. At some
point I got confused and I thought that I was listening to "Hvis Lyset Tar
Oss", instead of the new Akercocke album. An impressive display of
technicality will be revealed with "Bathykolpian Avatar", and the third
intro of this album "Upon Coriaccous Wings" paves the way for one more
example of intelligent brutality called "Scapegoat", a song which will make
every Akercocke fan really proud.
The real surprise came with "Son Of The Morning", a quite remarkable song
which will probably bring a big question mark to many faces. Akercocke know
when to push the right buttons and this attempt was quite successful. It's
exactly what Celtic Frost did with "Into The Pandemonium". Give it some time
and I guarantee that you'll love it. Death Metal is fast drumming, so please
welcome "Becoming The Adversary", a song which also possesses beautiful
keyboard melodies and impressive vocals. The last course of this delicious
extreme Metal meal is "Goddess Flesh", another intellectual composition.
I love bands that use corpsepaint on stage, but sometimes a well-ironed suit
and a silk tie can do the job!
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Review by John Stefanis
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