Acephalix - Deathless Master

A friend and I had a discussion recently on record labels who don't disappoint. They keep putting out quality album after quality album. The two labels we came down to are Profound Lore Records and Southern Lord Recordings. So SLR has been putting out all this quality crust and death stuff as of late. Acephalix second album 'Deathless Master' is another one of those albums that caps off a stellar year for the SLR label.

Acephalix appears to have shed their crust skin and replaced it with a death metal one. This approach though is dark and evil. Murky even, thanks to its production. Shades of brutality with those raw leads mixing through to remind me of Swedish death metal. All done with variations of catchy tempos and crushing stomps that makes for a pretty good listen, and a repeat given its 30 minute length..

Just picture yourself being dragged through that long dark hallway by hooded ghouls. The pounding drums and vicious kicks following you as you unwillingly are led through. You feel the rumbling in the ground as your feet are being dragged along the concrete floor. The hit of the snare is the giant fist of the hooded ghoul beating into your gut as you try to break free from their hold.

Those riffs just tear away. The deep and brutal sound has enough force to cause holes to emerge in the ground that even if you can escape from the hooded ghouls hold, you will just fall through one of the holes anyway. And those solos shred. They are piercing as fuck too. It just adds to the fear in you as you await the torture you are about to face. Even the raw melodies that appear from time to time are piercing. They can rip into the walls and ceilings and cut into your flesh. Your last moments are going to be one full of extreme noise that will just add more fear to you.

As you are about to be tossed into the pool of blood. The voice of the master hooded ghoul who sits at their throne to watch you trying to plead for your life, is one that is deep, and their enormous bellow can become a sick and torturous growl. Sadistic in every sense. He is not enjoying your torture, he just wants to prove a point with fury. Don't fuck with them. He will just bark at his members to continue to force your head into the blood. After your end, heh, they may feed on you.

This doesn't seem to be getting much hype about it and I am unsure why. But maybe the change in style has caused that. 'Deathless Master' maybe nothing new in the sense that it sounds like pure old school death metal, but when I think about it, this album carries that true element of evil and darkness that I haven't heard in death metal in a long time. Horror almost seems tame when you hear this.

Ikil