Akercocke

Creating truly atmospheric music with memorable structures and songwriting is a difficult task in this day and age, with every trite, poorly-researched Occultist gimmick played into the ground and the festering remains of the American death metal scene suffocating on a barrage of low-rent Morbid Angel clones. Britain’s Akercocke essentially stand alone, side-stepping the limitations of traditional death metal by incorporating a limitless array of influences — from the psychedelic musings of Enslaved to the rapid fire brutality of American groups like Suffocation and Disgorge. On the rare occasion that the group relents slightly, it is solely for the inclusion of sinister clean vocal hooks that expertly convey their button-down, aristocratic approach to Satanism and esoteric philosophy. The production, while suffering from the standard death metal kick drum polish, is well proportioned and spacious enough to allow the melodies to take the forefront at the appropriate moments. Akercocke have blurred the lines between death, black and progressive metal like never before, and are leagues ahead of pretty much everyone else in the field. Interested in something that doesn’t have to struggle to be groundbreaking, and that has the power to unite several extremely segregated sub-genres? Akercocke will deliver.