Maximum Metal Rating Legend

Back are the old-time satanic preachers for another sermon about biblical lies, devilish powers and other assorted tales of blasphemy. Acheron have been around for many years and have undergone numerous line-up changes but that has never stopped them from creating some hard-hitting death metal. I liken the sound of this release to what Unleashed and Entombed are doing lately as the disc has that old-school gritty tone and heavy, head-bobbing delivery. A sleek, crisp sounding production would have killed the mood, so they were smart on that count. A useless intro and even more useless closing tune/noise weren't such great ideas. I'm sure there's some deep, dark reason for that echoed, fork scraping against a glass sound they call "The 9'th Gate" but fellas...no one will EVER listen to it...so why bother? I find Acheron interesting as they don't rely on overly brutal arrangements like most genuine satanic bands do. The addition of some spaced-out soloing and female background vocals helps keep this disc from falling into the bottomless pit of the overly-mundane. This is probably as catchy and straight forward as devil metal can get. Good in that the message doesn't get lost in a barrage of extreme insanity but bad in that the music reveals all it has to offer very quickly.


Bottom Line: Their simplistic approach actually works musically but lost me fast with pretty unimaginative lyrics.