Rites of the Black Mass

Being a close follower of death metal during the 87-92 days I also got my hands on this album. It featured none other than ex-Nocturnus member Vincent Crowley so I had no doubts about the purchase. All in all I must conclude all these years later that it is a funny little album but far from memorable.

Acheron presented us straight forward death metal with hints of Master/Deathstrike and a hardcore punk attitude towards simplicity and drive. Like those other Americans Deicide the lyrical emphasis was on satanism instead of gore. The term ‘blackened’ is a newbie term so I will not use it. In those days this was just satanic death metal. And in fact it still is.

The album is more about the message and intensity than it is about musicality and nuances. Don't expect something similar to Nocturnus!

The simplicity of the album is slightly corrected by the use of intros between all the songs. While in essence this seems a good idea it also tends to break the albums dynamics just like Pestilence’s Testimony of The ancient. The album could have done with only half of the intros really.

The vocals are very generic but do the trick. The session players Slate & Strauss play their parts with ease (it is obvious they can do a lot more than this) so the album does not sound forced.

Yet, because of the very ‘decent’ clean production the aggression of the material suffers and the simplicity of the songwriting becomes too obvious. The album could surely have done with a more brutal sound. Vincent Crowley is one ugly motherf**ker and this album should have been just like that.

In conclusion: this album is not what it could have been. And it came two/three years too late to leave a real impression on the scene.