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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Black death... superb, 28 Sep 2004
I bought Chronzon before this, and felt a little trepidation about what I would think of it. I worried over nothing. Choronzon is by far the better record, but this has a raw edge to it that makes it immeadiately compelling. A black metal quality, that, somehow fits itself in nicely with the far more aggressive death metal body that makes up this album.
Alot of the tracks switch back and forth from black to death effortlessly, with a quick blast beat, or at the other end of the scale, a clean vocal, to seperate the two. This is a real treat to hear, as listening to purely "black", or purely "death" metal, can from time to time become a little stagnant in the vocals department. With the rich spoken word parts on songs such as "A Skin For Dancing In", its enough to keep your attention throughout. Add to that the female harmonies that acompany the brutal death growls of Jason Mendonca and you have an instant black metal classic. Like the sticker on the front says, This band really are the most evil sounding lot to come out of the UK in a long time.
The drums on this album are very fast and dynamic. The guitar riffs as well are catchy and fast (to say they were easy on the ear would be doing them a disservice) with plenty of time changes and rolling thrash style sprints to get the blood pumping.
Akercocke know how to write a tune. Of that there is no doubt.
I am more a fan of the death metal sound, rather than the black metal high pitched, wailing style. This album is safely more 'death' in style, but 'black metal' in feel (and obviously lyrical content). Saying that, my favourite moment on the whole disk is about 44 seconds in to "The Serpent" with its darker than dark bass blast. Black metal blasting in the true old skool style. Evil!
This album is a must buy for those listeners who appreciate old skool black metal like Darkthrone Necromantia etc...
But its also heavy and deathly enough to more than satisfy the needs of those who like their music down tuned and growling!
Hail those goat worshiping, suit wearing charlies!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The best UK Black Metal band, 23 Nov 2001
Satanic metal played by men in dinner dress, anyone? This album proves that it's not just image, but that Akercocke do have what it takes to make great albums. If their debut album was a promising record spoilt by bedroom production, this CD jumps from your speakers, and delivers great songs too. The drums are the first thing you notice, and they continue to display prominently thru the whole album; this band loves a good blast beat!The music is death metal with a black metal atmosphere, kinda reminiscent of modern-day Gehenna except far more technical. The band show a great awareness of dynamics; not content to get stuck in a rut like Deicide, they utilise clean sounds, female vox and mid-tempo riffs. An album which bears repeated listening to get the most out of it. Hopefully with a settled lineup the next record will be of Reign In Blood proportions!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The best truly extreme band in Britain, 13 Aug 2001
By A Customer
What with Cradle of Filth signing to the major lables and Napalm Death seeming happy to only write song over 2 minuets long and include choruses (shock horror!), it seems the mighty Akercocke are now one of the best truly extreme bands that Britain has to offer at the moment. Listenin to this CD you hear a fine blend of death and black metal delivered by some of the best musicians on the scene with the best shriek-to-grunt voice since Dani Filth. Opening track "Of Menstural Blood.." is nothing short of genious. Sounding like the old skool black matal of Mayhem & Darkthrone, but with top production to rival any of the more modern black metal albums, it is the best album opener since Deicide told us about Satans Spawn on Legion. Next track "A Skin for Dancing in" is also a little piece of brilliance but is prehaps lacking a certain something you wont be able to grasp untill you've listened to the whole album, but i'll tell you now; the albums main fault is that your left wishing that sometimes Akercocke would just forget about being technical and just thrash the hell out of their instraments. It's not that this CD isnt heavy or extreme etc, its just abit too complex sometimes. "Masks of God" is prehaps the most stripped down, full on death metal song on the album and its an absolute cracker. You're left wanting more moment like this but you rarly get them. Having said that, this is still a fantastic album by a fantastic band who know what the word "extreme" really means. It wont disapoint.
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