Album Review: Akurion – Come Forth to Me (Redefining Darkness Records)

In Akurion, Montreal death metal legends have joined forces to create a beast. The band is comprised of Mike DiSalvo (Vocals), Rob Milley (Guitars), Oli Pinard (Bass) and Tommy McKinnon (Drums)….the member’s names speak for themselves.

The  eight song debut album, Come Forth To Me will be released on April 10th 2020.

Gracing the band with their immense talent, the likes of Lord Worm, Luc Lemay, Jean-Marie Leblanc, Sylvia Hinz, Austin Taylor, Genevieve DiSalvo and Jeanne Strieder all contributed vocally or musically to the project.

Just because a band has some incredible names within their ranks, doesn’t mean the band is going to be great by proxy. A few too many ideas, a few too many big personalities, a few too many cooks…

Big names doesn’t equal big success.

No one told Akurion that though. As this death metal machine puts paid to that idea and confirms that talent breathes talent and Akurion’s expelled air is like a fireball to the entirety of being. We’re not talking a face full here but rather a full on raging inferno of a body burn.

The marker is laid down early with Leave Them Scars, an incredibly modern idea of just how expansive death metal can be. It doesn’t have to be constant blast beats, you can develop and push the sound to stranger levels, something Akurion do without ever losing their heavy as balls edge.

After such a mentally draining slab of fury, Petals From A Rose Eventually Wither to Black simplifies things while staying as brutal as possible. Everyone in this band are throwing their all into being the biggest and baddest beast they can be.

We then get two absolutely unbelievable offerings that together come in at around 20 minutes. Isn’t this supposed to be death metal?! Oh it most certainly is but death metal in the unquestionably unique way Akurion play it. Both Yet Ye See Them Not and Souvenir Garden absolutely mind-melting chaos with an impassioned amount of twists and turns.

10/10 already and the album is only halfway done.

Bedsores to the Bone is another rager, the guitar riffs drawn out, the bass hooks as sharp as a hunter’s knife and the drums continuing to punch a hole in the fabric of time. Let’s not forget the vocals either though, bursting with sickening life throughout but perhaps at their most intense on Wallow in Magnificent Pity.

It’s a short and chaotic penultimate offering with Year of the Long Pig, Akurion throwing caution to the wind completely. Only for Kingsom Overcome to remember what makes Akurion such a special prospect and delivers one final moment of crisis. The crisis? How often can you tell everyone in the entire world that Come Forth to Me is a phenomenal album and one that can proudly sit amongst the best of 2020, so far.

Akurion – Come Forth to Me Full Track Listing:

1. Leave Them Scars
2. Petals From A Rose Eventually Wither to Black
3. Yet Ye See Them Not
4. Souvenir Gardens
5. Bedsores to the Bone
6. Wallow in Magnificent Pity
7. Year of the Long Pig
8. Kingdom Overcome

Links

Bandcamp | Facebook | YouTube