Track Listing

1. Praise The Name of Satan
2. Prince of the North
3. Leviathon
4. Enraptured by Evil
5. Choronzon
6. Valley of the Crucified
7. Bathykolpian Avatar
8. Upon Coriacious Wings
9. Scapegoat
10. Son Of The Morning
11. Becoming the Adversary
12. Goddess Flesh

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #81550 in Music
• Released on: 2003-10-20
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

Stunningly ambitious Black / Death crossover
Without a doubt the finest British Death Metal band around at the moment, the well-dressed and cultured Akercocke are an awesome proposition and this their third album shows how seriously impressive they truly are. Their last release The Goat Of Mendes was an excellent record, but this is on a different level altogether. Frontman Jason Mendonca’s vocals range from a beautifully sung rich baritone to an awesome Death Metal growl, the drumming is insane with blastbeats and double bass runs all over the place and some of the guitar playing is truly spectacular; the riff which opens ‘Enraptured By Evil’ is enough to make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck. However, it is by no means all one-dimensional thrashing and blasting, this album has more than it’s fair share of light and shade. Moreso than its two predecessors, Choronzon sees Akercocke using electronic noises and synthesisers in a manner similar to bands like Voivod, and it adds a whole new level of interest to an already superb album. The best use of this technique is on the spectacular stand out track on the album ‘Son Of The Morning’ where the song begins by sounding like the Sisters Of Mercy and builds in intensity, heaviness and speed over its six minute-plus running time until at the end of the song it sounds like something from Suffocation’s legendary Effigy Of The Forgotten. Earache Records gave the band the budget to come up with an album to do justice to their undoubted songwriting abilities which they were never able to fully do before and they certainly came up trumps. The best British Metal release of 2003 without a shadow of a doubt, these dapper London gents showed that Cradle Of Filth aren’t the only band from these fair isles that can produce a noise which is extreme yet still has a relatively wide appeal.

Akercocke Show the Rest Of Europe How It's Done
Akercocke have risen fast since those 6 years ago when i saw them play under the name Salem Orchid.
There 3rd Album see's them becoming much more comercial but they still have not lost their original sound.
Earache records have supplied them with the money to make their most powerful recording to date.

There are clear moments on the album that sound like tracks from The Goat Of Mendes but this is balanced out by the fact that they have created so much more different sounds also, for example this must be the only album where u will here preaching, satanic gatherings, virgins being murdered, music reminemt from 80's funk and full out Death Metal all on one cd!

Stand out tracks are for me:
(Enraptured By Evil) - True death metal with a riff that will make the hairs on your neck stand on end.

(Leviathan) - The First Ever Akercocke track to contain of 7 mins of singing and not screaming, rest assured this is definately not a bad thing due to James Mendonca's incredible satanic harmonic voice.

and lastly

(Son Of The Morning) - First A Groovey tune, then some satanic singing and then full out blistering Death Metal.

This Is The Album Of 2003 and also will be of 2004 and will carry on to be the best album ever until they release their next cd in the hopefully not too distant future.
Buy it and buy it now

Praise the Name of Originality
I bloody love Akercocke.
Their brand of blended black and death metal shines out like a beacon in this modern era of extreme metal.
Choronzon has all the makings of an album that will go down in history as the day black and death metal were finally meshed so perfectly that you wouldn't know you were listening to either, as Akercocke have come up with a sound all of their own.
Of course, it is death metal and it is black metal. Without some kind of reference to adhere to this review wouldn't make much sense. But its the seamless blending of the styles, not to mention the accoustic touches and electronic moments that make this my favourite Aker moment. I've got all thier albums and this one for me is the best.
After a lengthy intro we get to taste the immeadiate darkness of "Praise the name of Satan." Its one of two ways Akercocke open their songs on this disk. The quick semi blasting bar, followed by a cooling of the jets, then the rush as it just tears off into all out black metal blasting. The other (ie: Enraptured....) is the shredding riff, followed by blasting drums and then the Mendonca extended death growl.
Jason Mendonca's vocals are exceptional. His range is truly amazing. From Clean singing, through to Black metal screaming and down into the completely uninteligble monstrous growling. He has it all.
This review has gone on far too long now, so I'll just say my personal faves on this album are 'Enraptured by Evil' for its shredding opening riff and all out brutality. 'Valley of the Crucified' for its opening clean vocals, superceded by some of the heaviest metal to come out of the uk...and a killer lead solo!
Special mention must go to the track 'Leviathan' which show cases some different styles both vocally and musically. A small tip towards what was to come on "Words..." Which is also completly mind blowing, but for slightly differnt reasons.
A fantastic album for all fans of intelligent, and yet brutally dark extreme metal.
Get all their stuff...get it now !!!!!!!
6 stars !