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Band: Acrosome
Album title: Narrator And Remains
Release date: 1 January 2017
Label: Dusktone
Tracklist:
01. First Step On To The World
02. Crossbreed Rising
03. Cognitive Contact
04. Sight
05. In The Wake Of Foot Traces
06. Accommodate
07. Terra Amata
Acrosome is a Turkish band that was formed in 2009; in the beginning this was a duo between two entities that are designated by the nicknames, DA and DY. Currently only DA is responsible for all bands work. In June 2011, Acrosome released first EP, Dementia Praecox, by their actual label Dusktone. This EP was a very interesting work with a kind of restless atmosphere. A mix between heavy doom with chilling black metal touches and of course tons of bleak ambiances. So, in 2014, came Non-Pourable Lines. Another “almost” good mental mix of styles, yet something is missed and the vocals,.... I don’t like it, this type of vocals simply doesn’t fit into this kind of soundscape. It’s not that the vocals are bad, on the contrary, but they don’t "fit" harmonically with the musical theme the band has adopted. And, now on the first day of 2017 was released Narrator And Remains. Yes, that was a nice surprise.
Narrator And Remains is in no way just a simple black metal album, it's far from that. The first track, "First Step On To The World", is good, but it could be perfect if: the intro was not so long, the vocals only arrive at 2:34 and by then, I'm sorry but I had already clicked the "forward" button. The problem is that the beats are good, but common, wasting the time and becoming tedious. From then on this almost epic opener is just perfect! Just perfect! The vocals begin to recite and after some instrumental changes it becomes simply beautiful. I also loved the way this track ends. The man whistling in the end is an excellent, yet very different vanguard touch. "Crossbreed Rising" is a very traditional black/death/doom mix, nice to hear but nothing that special anyway. Fans of early Arcturus will go nuts after it when they will hear "Cognitive Contact". Then the atmosphere on "Accommodate" reminds me a bit to Mesarthim... and when I was almost enjoying it the vocals spoiled all the music, but still it sounds and feels like a torturous desperate scream in the desert. The last one, "Terra Amata", is again an enjoyable listen, but very short and just shows how very versatile this album is with its Middle eastern atmosphere. The best track for me was the instrumental “In The Wake Of Foot Traces”, fast, dark, very technical and with kind of frightening atmosphere. The tracks on the album, while showing a certain "tuning" in terms of lyrical content, musically seem to have nothing to do with each other. The album as a whole is a mixture of many different genres and often disjointed elements, but still in its basis Acrosome uses elements of atmospheric black and avantgarde metal.
Many times the things on Narrator And Remains are so very broaden that are bordering to the masterpiece. I believe that this artist is still trying to find himself. And I truly believe that your "golden path" DA, is through the dark ambient genre. I am happy to see that this musical project has been growing, even though sometimes it feels like a mess without direction. I believe that, if compared to the previous releases, that fans of this act will like and "clap hands" because of the the changes Acrosome did on this album.
Review written by: Felin Frost
Rating: 6,5/10
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