Artist: Akercocke
Label: Earache Records
Release Date: 11/4/03
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Title: Choronzon Artist: Akercocke Label: Earache Records Release Date: 11/4/03 |
Judgment Committee Reviews | Rating |
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5 | ||
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4 | ||
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3 | ||
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Go to Reader Reviews | ||
Abyss's Review:
"One word review: Blood-curdling." Two things come to my mind when someone asks me to describe Akercocke: ‘British’ and ‘fucked up’. I was a big fan of both Rape of the Bastard Nazarene and The Goat of Mendes, each being the answer to anyone who enjoyed the concept of Cradle of Filth without all of the pomp and grandstanding. I’m not sure it's possible to take Akercocke that much more seriously than Cradle of Filth, but it’s easier to respect what they’re doing.
Choronzon is the band's first on Earache, jumping over from Peaceville, which might leave long time fans a bit fearful of a shift to more mainstream material. And it could be argued that they are a bit more mainstream with this release. It seems apparent that a great deal more money has been put forward for the production, and the haunting melodies of “Leviathan” could easily be mistaken for some of the more mainstream goth oriented bands out there. But, while its possible to make these conclusions while-listening to segments of the album at a time, listening to the work in any depth quickly dispels any thought that the band have left their ugly roots behind.
"Akercocke are Satanic art on the highest level, a mixture of blood, semen, and hate that is truly frightening." The band is still brilliantly weaving aural tapestries of Satan, lust, and blood that utilize atypical structure and intriguing, yet disturbing, atmosphere. The music itself combines black, death and goth with other subtleties strewn about, and although this could be the description for countless bands in the scene today, there is nothing typical about Akercocke. The band remains a wonder to behold, their biggest asset being their ability to compose material that copies no one, to the point where even mentioning influences becomes tricky.
Akercocke are not the band for someone interested in music that is easy to listen to, or those who lose their minds for infectious riffs and grooves. Akercocke are Satanic art on the highest level, a mixture of blood, semen, and hate that is truly frightening. One word review: Blood-curdling.
Death's Review:
"These guys can play and hate with the best of them." Evil lives in the hearts of Englishmen. Or at least the Englishmen in Akercoke, who praise Satan throughout their new album, Choronzon. Religious predilections aside, this is a well-produced and eclectic yet brutal work, full of death/grind blasts and aggressive, blackened screams, yet featuring accomplished and even progressive musicianship and enough stylistic twists and turns to keep the whole thing interesting throughout. Sure, many times the album sounds on a superficial listen like standard issue death metal, but there’s some accomplished musical talent on display underneath the surface, and there are also significant influences from more avant-garde acts such as Voivod and Celtic Frost incorporated into the song structures. These guys can play and hate with the best of them. The songwriting isn’t always all of the way there, and while there are good riffs, there are few that pack the “hair standing up on the back of your neck” type of punch that I want them to, but still, this is a fresh-sounding and professionally assembled package of well-executed Satantic extreme metal that doesn’t fit comfortably into any corporate-stylistic-labeling box. There’s a lot to be said for that. Bottom line: some people will find this (un)godly, many others won’t get it at all. But there is something of value here and, as a metalhead, it is worth your time to explore it.
Hel's Review:
Choronzon is the type of album that causes me to sigh in defeat as I put it into my player. High-minded black metal at its most pretentious or insufferable noise? Is there really much of a difference? Frankly, whenever this record meanders its way around to some actual metal, it’s rather palatable. It’s the disproportionate amount of time that I am forced to listen to “mood-setting” ambient nonsense that I resent.
"Why is filler the new trend?" My time is at a premium these days and every album I listen to anymore seems to feel the need to waste at least the entire first track with sound clips or more ambient nonsense before getting down to business. Why is that? In my day, metal was usually about ripping your face off from the very first note. When did that change? Why is filler the new trend? Well, whatever the reason, a new pet peeve has been added to my rather long list.
Earache’s anti-piracy technique of breaking individual songs down into multiple mini-tracks also adds to my continuing irritation. When you say to yourself “wow, now that’s a good song” and look down, only to see “Track 86” displayed, it’s a truly frustrating feeling. I don’t carry an answer key around with me. And really, all it tells me in this case is that I liked four bars of one song – whatever song that may have been.
"If you like unstructured sonic chaos with lots and lots of random slow sections and really poor production, then this is the album for you." All of these things together cause me to be far less interested in this album than I may have been if the circumstances were different. Or do they? Even under optimal conditions, Ackercocke is still pretentious black metal, with the intentionally poor production values inherent with this stance. While some might consider this album “diverse,” I consider it to be random. Non-cohesive. Scattered. Epic songwriting? Nah – I think it is more like short attention span theater. Which really ought to work for me. But no, there’s no single strand that pulls this all together in the end. At least not that I could find.
If you like unstructured sonic chaos with lots and lots of random slow sections and really poor production, then this is the album for you. The four or so instances of actual metal songs (usually padded with still more nonsense) that are contained on this album make me very happy when they ultimately pop up. But I don’t have enough patience to wade through so much chaff. I will give Ackercocke credit for the small handful of decent songs, buried under the dirtiest production they could come up with. But that generosity will only prop them up to a 3, which may still be more than this album deserves.
Elitist black metal for arty black metal snobs.
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