Album Review: Akilla – The Gods Have Spoken (Self Released)

UK melo-death four-piece Akilla will releases their hotly-anticipated and debut album, ‘The Gods Have Spoken,’ on June 2nd, 2023.

Akilla said:

After 4 years in the making we are so happy to finally be on the verge of releasing our debut album ‘The Gods Have Spoken’. The reception we have had on the road this last year has been nothing short of incredible. It has been a long journey with a lot of changes along the way, but we’ve worked our asses off and are incredibly proud of this album. With songs based on ancient myths and legends across various cultures, ’The Gods Have Spoken’ encompasses the musical influences of all four of us and we cannot wait to share these songs with you all!

We’ve already had a taste of what this album has to offer with the excellent Serpent and the Son, a track that features heavy intensity building to a scathing showcase of riffs and blood-curdling vocals. Before it then hits differently, as it turns into something grander with exceptional melody.

It alone showed why Akilla are being talked about with a certain amount of reverence, and as an introduction to this album, it really created a ton of anticipation.

Anticipation that is well and truly paid off as Winds of Winter proves to be an explosive start that showcases the creative melo-death capabilities of this band with aplomb. It’s brutally heavy, layered with powerful melodic tones, and has a killer chorus.

The aforementioned Serpent and the Son comes next (it’s still a kickass track), before Queen of Heaven’s groovy rhythm section encourages some serious head-banging, and Song of the Seafarers sees Akilla delivering one of the most exciting melo-death heavy tracks of all. Invigorating heaviness with detailed melody, epic riffs, and creative twists. It, like everything that came before and everything that comes after, intensifies the admiration all will have for what Akilla have accomplished here.

Though, it is far from over yet, and with Blood and Bone, Akilla get the blood pumping even harder. The guitars are absolutely screaming here, but the meaty percussion and gurning growls of the vocals help make this another unforgettable listen.

Which also applies to the frenetic post-tinged brilliance of Cosmica and the brooding brutishness of the title track. The latter might have the album’s most epic sounding chorus too. Akilla showing that there is more to them than just melo-death. Although, they do that so well, nobody would be complaining.

Finally, this triumph of a debut wraps up with something quite spectacular in the form of Echo. Heart-wrenching melodies, searing riffs, thumping drums, demanding vocals, and one hell of an overall grandiose sound. It’s an ending befitting of the brilliance that came before and is up there as one the best tracks heard this year alone.

Akilla – The Gods Have Spoken Track Listing

1. Winds of Winter
2. Serpent and the Son
3. Queen Of Heaven
4. Song of the Seafarers
5. Blood and Bone
6. Cosmica
7. The Gods Have Spoken
8. Echo

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