Akercocke was one of the most interesting mélanges of black and death that came out of the UK at the end of the last century.

The five albums they produced stroked a vitriolic balance between sulfurous black metal, technical death metal and occult laden doom, blazing with an exquisitely developed satanic & erotically tingued concept that had a lot more bite than what their countrymen of Cradle were producing by that time. In 2007 they called it quits, unfortunately. Some of them resurfaced in the equally impressive as overlooked Voices until now , a decade later the band reformed and has now just released their comeback album, aptly named, ‘Renaissance in Extremis’. The band is still centered around David Gray and Jason Mendonca with original member Paul Scanlan back on board as well.  In a way picks up where it left off a decade ago with ‘Antichrist yet it doesn’t shy away from unexpected experiments with electronics and synths, although you shouldn’t fear a faux industrial miscreant like Morbid Angel’s ‘Illud Divinum Insanus’. Despite an excellent back catalogue I felt that Akercocke never really got the recognition they were due, especially beyond Albion’s shores. Let’s hope this they will be reborn into glory this time round.

Tracklist:

1.      Disappear

2.      Unbound by sin

3.      Insentience

4.      First to Leave the Funeral

5.      Familiar Ghosts

6.      A Final glance Back Before Departing

7.      One Chapter Closing for Another to Begin

8.      Inner Sanctum

9.      A Particularly Cold September

10.  In Mourning

Label: Peaceville

9/10

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