### Akercocke: Choronzon

#### 02/04/09 || The Duff

Akercocke hail from England, and I suppose would be labeled a black/death metal band, but not in the traditional sense as with a band like Behemoth, but in a pretto, Opeth kinda way, just a lot more ugly. “Chorizo” is their third album, and I checked it out because I was very impressed with the first track off their latest, “Antichrist”, and could remember that this album was the first of theirs I’d heard of getting decent exposure and press.

First thing that will strike the listener is that there is no doubt as to the talents of these Englishmen who wear attire that would suggest they yearn for the return to the days of legal fox-hunting and cigars n’ brandy out on the veranda. The precision of some of the death metal riffs is up there with the best of them, one of few bands that sounds like it has practiced with minimal gain before swimming amidst the amp endorsements that promise rich, laziness-inducing distortions – triplets from the undisciplined just sound like sludge, but Akercocke have got their sound down very tightly, where every note can be distinguished. Most impressive is the drumming, David Gray not only being a very accurate player, but also playful and quite creative – not unmatchably brilliant, but you don’t come across drummers like this guy often.

The music, unfortunately, is where this band suffers; for a group that embellishes their music with so many styles, from tech death to varying styles of black to prog to some nu-metal leanings to Depeche Mode, it can sound samey, especially with the death metal riffs – black metal is definitely their forte, and judging from the visual side, the synth and atmospherics comprising what they deliver (and the haunting sample at the beginning that sounds like a Christopher Lee film), a black metal band is what they chiefly wish to be acknowledged as. On top of this slight setback, you get the idea the band is going in too many directions at once; this would all be fine if there was some sense of continuity, but there isn’t, just a couple of close-to-silent samples that reveal the band’s lack of experience in tying songs together.

The pluses are very apparent, though – the musicianship for one, another being just how proficient the band is at evoking some very evil music – dark metal is more hilarious to me than anything else, and it is the very few who make me feel Satan is standing behind me working up an erection that could stretch along the M25; Akercocke, even with the very technical aspects of the disc, are constantly working up the malevolent energy within their music. Final points that make this a gem are the very versatile, well performed vocals (from clean to Devilishly low-end), the clean production (Earache, afterall), and the fleshed out, natural beauty on the cover.

8 albums for the black/death/Dream Theater fan out of 10.

- Information
- Released: 2003
- Label: Earache
- Website: www.akercocke.com
- Band
- Jason Mendonca: guitars, vocals
- Paul Scanlan: guitars
- Peter Theobalds: bass
- David Gray: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Praise the name of Satan
- 02. Prince of the North
- 03. Leviathan
- 04. Enraptured by evil
- 05. Choronzon
- 06. Valley of the crucified
- 07. Bathykolpian avatar
- 08. Upon coriaceous wings
- 09. Scapegoat
- 10. Son of the morning
- 11. Becoming the adversary
- 12. Goddess flesh