Taran

Akashah perform very epic black metal. So epic that it's more appropriate to talk about pagan metal. For the simple reason that when you hear and feel such epicism, there is an association with the pagan spirit, dead or alive, but not with blackness or darkness. Well, basically the "Taran" album includes mid-tempo, but very dynamic anthems, which imminently brings back to memory early Graveland. The strange manner of playing (or recording) – the rhythm of the song seems sometimes to get stuck in some invisible swamp, so it stumbles, and this is particularly in evidence in the second track "Traversing the Veils of Death" and the fourth "Hades Gate", – strengthens this parallel.

The quality of recording also works for similarity to Graveland: the recording is, of course, raw, and the guitar sound is very fizzy – but impressive. Bass can be heard well during slow passages mostly, nevertheless it's not so big problem to recognize it in other parts. But the drums are really hard to hear, on fast episodes they are almost completely disappeared. Well, it's a common thing. However, the resulting quality is very suitable for such "orthodox" pagan metal. On the other hand, if the recording quality were better, some interesting details could be heard. Hmm, but then it would not be Akashah anymore.

One thing they outperform the good old Graveland is the ability to create incredibly tuneful and heartfelt tremolo picking riffs. Main riff of almost every song suits to this characteristic, and its force is enhanced by the noted mid-tempo drums. This striking trait makes the band special.

Solo parts and licks are vaguely reminiscent of Summoning, especially if the keyboards sound in this part too. Right, the keyboards make a big contribution to the atmosphere of this album. However, the ornate structure of most solo fragments makes them quite distinctive, and even the illusion of the orchestrating appears in some places, as, for example, in the middle of the rather pompous intro "Taran". "Explicit" Summoning sounds only in the finale of the sixth song "Children of the Moon", which ends with the keyboards part. Sometimes Akashah's solo licks arise in heavy metal genre (mentioned "Traversing the Veils of Death" and "Children of the Moon"), but, to be honest, they are not so efficacious.

Acashah pick up speed in almost every song – well, fast episodes diversify their hymns, but not much else, because all the advantages of their music recede on blast beat into the background. If only "Hades Gate" stands out from the general row – it's evil and fast song, maybe in the spirit of Profanatica. However, it also has an epic part. In "Children of the Moon" there is also a small "stylistic anomaly" – you can hear the RAC influence here, it's a very vigorous and fighting composition.

In fact, Akashah are to be commended for that they started their album without traditional for pagan metal pretentious guitar fingerpicking, and in general they use this technique not so often. Alas, the beginning of the fifth song "Heros in Defeat" spoiled this good impression – it starts with a very banal fingerpicking, even the similarity to "A Fine Day to Die" does not save, "Heros in Defeat" would be better without this banal melody.

A fingerpicking sounds in the seventh song "The Horned Tree" too, but this time it's a completely different matter. The composition is slower than all other songs, and therefore when fingerpicking is added to the Akashah "branded" tremolo picking riff, the atmosphere becomes breathtaking: anger and obscureness run high. This song is also interesting with a profound passage including a fingerpicking again and a strange drum pattern. Probably, this is the most sophisticated composition. As for the structure of the songs in general on he "Taran" album, it cannot be called primitive, only the third composition "Lightning Hammer" is built on one riff, though some bridges are erected sometimes around it, here and there, but the result is not elegant, something chaotic flares in these bridges.

Vocals are mostly angry and harsh, and with their rattle they are very harmonized with "fizz" in the guitar sound. However, very often the vocalist sings in a clear voice, and such parts are amazing. Sometimes he sounds just like Peter Steele (Type O Negative era, not Carnivore at all), but this does not harm the black / pagan essence of Akashah's music (again "Lightning Hammer"). Their epicism draws near majesty when female clean vocals join the singer ("Heros in Defeat"). Grandiose. Akashah also does other vocal experiments: in "Hades Gate" some vocal parts are performed in a growling manner, but the "roll call" between growling and screaming is more interesting, it turns out a kind of... mmm... "pagan Deicide"?