### Ackros: Promo 2010

#### 09/03/11 || Khlysty

Being swamped with work does not constitute the best conditions towards listening and/or reviewing music. Thus, even though Ackros’ newest self-release has lied on my to-do list for quite some time now, I was nearly unable to sit down and give it a decent spin, so as to see what the fuss is all about.

Anyway, now I’ve found a lull, so – seeing as label-sent music is top priority for GD – I unwaxed me ears and sat down to listen to this demo/promo/whatever. And, y’all wanna know something? Even though it’s nothing horrible, it really isn’t something that makes me go apeshit with joy, either.

Ackros supposedly play progressive death metal – at least, that’s what their Metal Archives page says. What I hear, though, is a mixture of death metalisms with enough thrashisms to make this an inoffensive, even if not really interesting listen that lasts almost 17 minutes, sprawled over four songs.

To tell the truth, listening to Ackros, I had for most of the time the impression that I was listening to a thrash metal band that tried to come off as brootaler than the competition, what with the laryngitis-sufferer-vocals and some angularity in the song-writing department. But, do these elements a prog death band make?

Well, no. On the good side, the mixture of the two styles is pretty okay and works fine, as far as the listening experience of the promo is concerned. On the other hand, though, everything sounds pretty mundane, like you’ve heard everything before, sometimes in better configuration than what’s in here.

One major offense, at least to me, is the vocals, which, while never quite falling into the unintelligible burps category, sound strained and, a few times, out of place, when compared with the music they are into. Otherwise, the band members are tight and the production is pretty pro, especially for a promo record.

Bottom line? I’ll be as concise as it gets: If you need a dose of commonplace death metal and you’ve already depleted all other resources, then Ackros is a good remedy. If not, well, there’s nothing here to call really exciting…

- Information
- Released: 2010
- Label: self-released
- Website: Ackros MySpace
- Band
- Livio: vocals
- Vincent Tamiset: guitar, vocals
- Patrick Di Venti: guitar
- Phil: bass
- Laurent Masse: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Drop trip
- 02. Axis antiseptia
- 03. Revelations
- 04. N3