Album Review: To Kill Achilles – Something To Remember Me By (Arising Empire)

Scottish quintet To Kill Achilles release their new album ‘Something to Remember Me By’ on 5th February 2021 via Arising Empire.

The band says:

This record is the story of a man who wakes up on his twenty-fifth birthday and the events that happen throughout the course of a year that lead him to take his own life, exactly one year on to the date. Each song represents a month in his life (with the exception of two moments of reflection). In each of the songs we tell a story that a member of the band has been through over the last few years. Every song is real and is a portrayal of how we felt in that moment.

The modern post-hardcore, melodic metal metal sound of To Kill Achilles, drips in reverberation and intensity, and is delivered with the kind of passion that comes from a band completely in the moment. The moment being this killer 14-track album that brings the pit openers with fourpercent, In Vain and Luna et Altum. Three heaving blasts of pure ferocity that have riffs flung about without much care, drums and bass hit with all the might of a hammer, and vocals that must have been incredibly punishing on the chords. All while having moments of melodic levity that add so much more weight to things.

You’ll likely know if you’re in love with Something to Remember Me By at this stage but be under no illusions, there is much more to come. There’s a strong argument that things start off interesting but slow and To Kill Achilles really start to hit their peak on Oh God, I’ve Never Felt This Low. A sound of tortured souls, both devastatingly emotive and destructively concentrated.

The short and focused post airiness of Black Marble, the moody and riff-tastic When You Live with Ghosts, You Don’t See The Dead, and haunting beauty of Agnostic take us to the halfway point in style. It’s been an incredible journey so far and it just continues to get better and better.

Kicking things back up a gear with the catchy and ardent metal rhythm of On My Mind and ferocious post groove of There’s No Right Way to Say This… It’s as hot as ever but with the cooling breeze of To Kill Achilles’ innate ability to make it all sound so meaningful.

Though such spitting rage as found on Venom is where most will find they want to let loose in a pit. These moments just as good as the more thought-provoking stuff. Talking of which… We Only Exist When We Exist Together might be the highlight of that side of the band. Where the distant and shouted vocal style with a repetitive eerie guitar tone makes for a truly exceptional effort.

The end is in sight though and three varied hits see things out as strongly as anything else heard so far. Beautiful Mourning having some of the chunkiest riffs so far, 21:36 is both as wild as the band can be and as mellow. While the title track has such a raw, low-fi recording style, the strumming acoustic guitar and strained vocals, making for a unique closer.

If post hardcore/melodic metal delivered with passion and a modern outlook on metal is your jam, then you have to hear this record. An album of the year contender.

To Kill Achilles – Something to Remember Me By Full Track Listing:

1. fourpercent
2. In Vain
3. Luna et Altum
4. Oh God, I’ve Never Felt This Low
5. Black Marble
6. When You Live with Ghosts, You Don’t See The
7. Agnostic
8. On My Mind
9. There’s No Right Way to Say This…
10. Venom
11. We Only Exist When We Exist Together
12. Beautiful Mourning
13. 21:36
14. Something To Remember Me By

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