Demo

I haven't been "record shopping" in quite some time - in fact, I'd say it's been well over two years since I just took the act of walking aimlessly around a record store. Maybe it's because my city really didn't have to many, maybe it's because Spotify ruined my ability to really go out and actively search for music. I mean, when you have a billion songs from all over, it's kind of hard to get of one's ass and look through bins. But, a few more stores opened up by my condo, so I figured I might as well stop in a few. On one particularly interesting trip, I came across a huge bin of cassettes. Most of them were the standards - you know Thin Lizzy, AC/DC, KISS - but there were also a few really unique and bizarre looking ones stuffed in there. One of them was Akatharsia's demo. I didn't even look at the price - I just went up and bought it - something about that cover really drew me in. Brought me back to my high school days of walking through Mind's Eye in Cleveland looking for weirdo shit.

The album opens up with an almost post-rock riff that quickly turns into a blackened rocky affair - reminds me a lot of Thralldom, or Merrimack's slower stuff - maybe even a hint of Panopticon thrown in for good measure. But, something was a tad bit more punk and a bit more rock and roll than any of those. "Hive Mind" is barely black metal - the only thing about it would probably be the production and the vocal delivery, which sound almost identical to Lunn in Panopticon's early period. The album really doesn't kick into black metal until the third track "Excreta", which is actually a kickass blasting affair - with the riff twisting over itself, with a distorted version playing over a slightly cleaner version of itself - it's a really effective layer, and by the time the "chorus" part comes in - it sounds like a tighter, less strung out version of Blodulv.

I think that might be the only modern band I can accurately compare these Californians to, mainly because these guys are just so filthy. The riffs are brooding, chunky, and really in your face. There's so shreds of melody or anything resembling a hook on the whole album. There are some slightly harmonic moments, but those are more rhythmic than anything else, the opener "Hive Mind" is a great example of this - as is "Within the Thrall" - which has Darkthronian moments of harmony kicking in over the blasting and d-beat drumming, the result is a fantastically powerful buildup. But most of the album sounds like a blackened crusty stomp through the bog - the imagery of death masks and gas tanks seemingly fitting.

This is not to say that the demo doesn't have an atmosphere - it's actually a very effective piece of music - and oddly emotional at times - and the band really sounds like they are trying to capture desperation and fleeting moments of peace within violence and unending difficulties. I have no idea what the lyrics are at the time of writing this, but there's something really passionate and disquieting about the delivery. This is especially evident on "Herd Vaccination" which echoes back to "Hive Mind" where an clean guitar turns aggressive suddenly and effectively - churning and grinding a relatively peaceful and melodic moment into a bloody, aggressive, lurking beast of a riff at the drop of the hat. The album closes on "Dross" - which definitely should be the final song. It's lengthy, with sparse moments of Dissection worship, edging a bit into Nightbringer territory, and as the most "black metal" song on the album, the repetition of riffs turns it into something meditative and powerful. It's a cacophonous and cataclysmic ending, with droning noisy saw synths blaring underneath the slight melodies of the guitars. The music itself doesn't fade, but is rather drowned out by the noise overtaking before it suddenly ceases, and the vocals echo into the nothingness.

It's weird though, because I want to say that Akatharsia doesn't do anything new, but there's something inexplicably unique to their sound. I really had a hard time coming with with band comparisons, and the one I did isn't even that great. This demo is swirling and atmospheric, filthy and raw, drenched in passion and tightly played. I guess I could say this is definitively "American" black metal in the sense that it combines just enough elements to make it something distinct, but doesn't really lose sight of the history of things - but that doesn't really capture it entirely. I will say that at twenty minutes, this demo had my attention the entire time - and in that time, Akatharsia proved that they could have an extremely promising output.