Although I know the Manchester area, I don’t come from round there so I haven’t had the pleasure of encountering Acolyte. And listening to the dark and fiery “Alta”, their debut album, is a pleasure.
The first thing to commend here is the control. If the closing track “Epistle” is eleven and a half minutes of what this band is about, “Charybdis” and “Leng”, which feature at the beginning of this album, capture the variety and range. The build-up of the dark and melodic “Charybdis” is excellent and immediately invites us into the dangerous and sharp vibe. The growly vocals are pure. Dark intensity is something often to said to describe chocolate but here it’s the perfect description of this fiery and threatening metal. The crumbling streets of Manchester are laid to waste. But it’s not just a dark assault. There are many subtleties, nice passages, progressive touches in the movement, but still it’s fluid and melodic metal. There’s a strong black metal element about the morbid drumming, imperious vocals and those growls. Bloody hell, this is interesting. “Carybdis” even picks up in intensity. It bounces along and captured me with its control and intensity. As I listened to “Leng”, I realised there’s a holistic quality. This nine-minute epic has another great melodic melody, a fantastic riff and wholesome growls. It’s all surrounded by a complete sound. There’s no compromising or messing about. The focus is on belting melodic blackened death metal songs. There are great subtleties and twists in the guitar work to suck us in and enthuse us. It’s completely captivating. After a break, off we go with an equally solid black metal passage, then it slows again and an exotic and jazzy guitar section confronts us. There’s an Opeth-like quality about this and its entrancing nature but Opeth isn’t normally accompanied by devastating progressive black metal. There is one band here with whom comparison can be made: Enslaved. This becomes more apparent as the album progresses.
In fact a pattern emerges. Forward-moving progressions and bouncy dark metal, always wrapped in fire, continue to be the order of the day. Instrumental richness abounds, but in amongst the deep sounds always recalling Grutle and co there are slower passages. It’s invigorating for sure but by the time we got to the seventh track “Vultures” I found I was able to predict the pattern. It’s like adding extra cream to the extra cream. There’s no need as the album lasts 57 minutes already and it would not have suffered for the loss of a track. Or better still, Acolyte could have taken us more by surprise, and after “Charybdis” and “Leng”, this doesn’t really happen. This said, it’s always full of fire and seamless transitions, and the mood darkens commendably on “Sunrise”, developing into post metal before pulling away slowly and enticingly.
And so the album reaches its finale. “Epistle” epitomises all its great qualities. It comprises characteristic controlled metal. The slower passage this time is more drawn out and arguably more effective as a result in its spread of all things dark. This track is a monster. It picks up pace, is pegged back again and is full of epic moments. Hard-hitting, it is fluid without breaking away. It is absorbing. Calm and hypnotic passages break up the movement, then the pace picks up again and there is an overwhelmingly majestic air to the seamless black metal which follows. The mood is melancholic and ethereal at the same time. As classical music rises, so does this black metal extravaganza. Finally we are breathtakingly taken into other, loftier worlds with the drums providing the control as the guitars and even the growls play havoc with our emotions.
Acolyte could have cut this album down to the essentials here. It’s as if they parade everything they have, which in the middle part gave me the sense that they had nothing new to say. That minor criticism apart, “Alta” is magnificent. This album will appeal to anyone who has an ear for fire-filled, epic and progressive blackened metal. There’s a lot to be appreciated here.
(8 / 10 Andrew Doherty)
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