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ACHERON
Kult Des Hasses

Listenable (2014)
Rating: 8/10

Hellish US metallers Acheron could be considered veterans of the extreme metal scene when one considers that they’ve existed in some form since the late 1980s. It’s also fair to say that in the course of their career Acheron have had more band members than I’ve had hot dinners, but as long as they keep on churning out top quality metal who really cares?

The good news of course is that Vincent Crowley is still barking out the blasphemous orders and has been since day one, give or take a few minor hiccups. Crowley is also bringing forth the devilish bass and is joined in unholy matrimony by drummer Kyle Severn (Incantation) and guitar grinder Art Taylor (Shrine Of Suffering).

It’s been five years since the last Acheron outing, that being 2009’s The Final Conflict: Last Days Of God where the band existed as a quartet, but this time round the band sound tighter and more malicious than ever, somehow combining classic metal, doom-laden extremity and death metal ferocity that hints at Deicide with its malevolence. As expected, Acheron’s latest slice of metal is overtly satanic and breathes fire throughout, snorting like some unhappy dragon whose treasure has just been disturbed.

Crowley is bang on form as ring leader to the riotous, bringing the likes of ‘Satan Holds Dominion’ and particularly ‘Raptured To Divine Perversion’ kicking and screaming out of the River Styx and into the glow of light. I can just see those God-lovers fleeing in terror as the apocalypse rolls out from the caverns of Hell’s mouth like some black tide formed of those demonically weighty guitars and those avalanches we call percussion.

Throughout this record there is a fantastic diversity, enabling the band to arrogantly chug along of their own accord, whether as a menacing pace of frothing vocals and snarling bass or something far slower yet impure in its chanting.

I continually revert back to the two aforementioned tracks because it’s these two evil manifestations which rises above all else, like some ghoul ascending from the ashes of a scorched town. Forget the phoenix from the flames, Acheron is the most dreaded behemoth to invade our nightmares since Behemoth went all deathly on us and Deicide first came into fruition. The difference here though is the complexity, with Acheron constantly keeping the listener guessing and yet somehow hinting at unexpected traditional metal melody – case in point being ‘Raptured To Divine Perversion’ with its incredible infectious intro.

If you manage to survive the eight-minute opener ‘Daemonum Lux’ then you’ll no doubt be decapitated and nailed to an inverted cross of fire with ‘Jesus Wept (Again And Again)’ with its brutality and utmost hate. Crowley just happens to be one of those fearsome vocalists you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley, such are his convincing words of ill will and wicked wisdom.

‘Thy Father Suicide’ and ‘Asphyxiation (Hands Of God)’ are stormy affairs that are brisk and quarrelsome as if the dark lord himself had created the ultimate soundtrack to his cunning and murderous ways.

To say that Acheron’s eighth full-length opus is consumed in flames and belching all that is nefarious is an understatement. With its flailing leads, which act as a serpent tongue flicking with menace, and those barrages of riffs and drums, Kult Des Hasses is a rather frightful album combining old school death metal with a few modern tweaks as well as throwing in a few black metal influences to keep us on our toes. And with ‘Devil’s Black Blood’ leading us away from the last strands of light with its punkoid frenzy of dirty riff and snarling vocal, who are we to argue with such a formidable trio of musicians.

Acheron provides the listener with a number of reasons to listen, and the main ingredients here which make the record so good are the strong solos, battering riffs, segments of diversity and above all Crowley’s continued devotion to the dark side which he delivers via the pit of doom, otherwise known as his mouth. All hail the son of satan!

Neil Arnold

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