The Norwegians may have got there first and the French carry the banner for the most adventurous and bizarre, but the Greeks, well, they just seem to do it better than anyone else. Exhibit A: Akrotheism, who may not be breaking any moulds in black metal like some of their fellow countrymen but they have gone someway to producing an album that can be measured as a single surge of adrenaline and by that measure alone is faultless. This, like the whiplashing hooks in each of the tracks, literally came at me from out of nowhere one night (or, I should say, I only vaguely remember being handed a copy amid an alcoholic haze). Behold the Son of Plagues combines nectar sweet melodies with the kind of venom-spitting fury and nihilism that would no doubt leave Socrates and Aristotle wondering why they had been wasting their breath reasoning with people like this.
Akrotheism rely on cleverly addictive riffs while eschewing the kind of flagrant and lazy orchestration that normally seems to go hand in hand with this kind of music these days. There are some nicely timed choral samples here and there but the tracks generally rely on the bands own musicianship which extends from the rabid to the exhilarating – usually in the same track. Blast up the triumphant Flagellum Made Catharsis and listen to the mid-paced pounding that quickly spirals into a Marduk blitzkrieg and back again, an easy segue into chaos, before a finale with the kind of intensity that might melodic Swedish masters like Lord Belial and Naglfar with slackened jaws. Not that that is even the best of it, but I won’t spoil all the surprises. Let’s just say that the seven or eight minute track times are entirely justified and you’ll rarely hear a voice so unearthly and vile as Aeon (who has also played lead guitar on a band called Aeklypsis who released one EP which compares to this like a water sprite to a titan).The towering crescendos and the fearsome assaults of Salt of Grace would easily measure up to the likes of Enthroned, Dark Funeral and Setherial and there is a dark underbelly that reminded me at times of the black n roll of Taake.
Akrotheism combines it all with a tautly wound production but an approach to the tracks that is anything but. Weaving and dropping in surprises as casually as a band at the very top of its game as one just starting out (the only other release I can find is a two track split with Order of the Ebon Hand). The duel finale of Send Us To Swine coupled with the bands own over the top take on Ved Buens Ende’s To Swarm Deserted Away, complete with shrill female soprano vocals, is worth buying the album alone. Behold the Son of Plagues is an unflinching master-class in spine-tingling black metal in a world where the risk of drowning in a sea of averageness is sometimes all too real. Akrotheism have risen up on the crest of the wave and delivered a howling blast of an album. I hope the band gets some recognition for this vile and beautiful offering because these guys mean business.
(8.5/10 Reverend Darkstanley)
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