Originally written by Ryan Plunkett
All right, I don’t know how this band managed to slip through the cracks for me, but they did and I’m glad I have finely heard them. Akercocke is easily going to be a band that will leave their mark on the metal world. Choronzon is the first release I’ve heard by this black/death outfit, but after a little research, I’ve learned that their two previous efforts have receive nothing but high praise. And it’s safe to say that I will definitely be stocking up on this bands back catalogue after hearing this.
Now, I wish I could compare this to their previous releases, but as I said, this is my first run-in with the band. It’s amazing how when you look back to the early days of extreme metal, black and death metal were so easily divided, but in the present bands are doing such a superb job of joining the two together. Akercocke is one of those bands and they do so flawlessly. Combing the chugging and crunch of death metal, they send you flying through the unholy fury of black metal blasts and keyboards. Not to mention, they hit both spectrums vokill-wise also. The gruff death voice leads into truly necro black metal screams, not to mention there is some wickedly haunting clean vokills too. Throw together the brutality of Nile and the powerful songwriting of Emperor, mixed with the chaotic epicness of both bands and you have Akercocke, but Akercocke are hardly a clone of either of the aforementioned.
It’s great too see a band that can so easily combine these genres and do it so well also. Look at a song like “Scapegoat”, throughout it you will find the Dying Fetus chunk, Nile-esque crazy soloing, and just plain damn good songwriting. Then after that, you come across a song like “Son of The Morning” which starts out with clean singing and almost gives off an Ulver/Enslaved type vibe. This is exactly why I love this band so much. It jumps around to encompass everything good about extreme metal in a whole. If you haven’t heard this band, check them out now. And while you’re at it, BUY this album.
Choronzon shall definitely be aiming to take one of my top spots at the end of the year. A strong release indeed, my only real complaint at all with this band is an extremely minor one and probably is going to be viewed as extremely nit-picky, but… I just don’t really like the death vokills that much. They’re not bad by any means, I just picture-hearing a death growl with a bit more clarity with the music presented. This is a very minor thing though and doesn’t detract my overall appreciation for the album, but I think it is the only aspect that really keeps it from nearing perfection in my mind. None-the-less, buy this album; the power of Satan compels you!
