AKANDO – Attack from Ambush
- Posted on 23-10-2019
Akando’s ten-track offering entitled “Attack from Ambush” is something quite special and different in the sense that it thematizes and revolves around Native American history – and it does so by means of melodic death metal (with a few thrash metal influences thrown into the fiery mix for good measure).
Following the atmospheric spoken-word introduction (i.e. “Oath of Revenge”), the three-piece launches into an aggressive and yet melodically rich take on death metal, and from the get-go they manage to conjure up a thick and layered atmosphere that more or less persists throughout the entire record. Heaps of changes and shifts occur too and Akando are nothing if not dynamic. The drums and bass provide plenty of punch and bombast while the guitars add multiple textures, and the vocals range from screams to chants and further on to whispers, so all is well in those departments. The riffs are generally memorable and the melodies possess a suitably epic and majestic edge without going totally overboard or descending into pompous symphonic metal cliches. However, some of the best and most effective parts are the calm and mellow ones as well as the really slow and heavy sections where one feels as if one is entering another dimension filled with shamanic and ritualistic practices – those are the real highlights of the album and what sets it apart from many other extreme metal releases out there today. The moody “The March of a Thousand Miles” and the utterly catchy “Raven Mocker” perfectly illustrates what I am talking about here.
Although “Attack from Ambush” is a real solid and interesting opus, it never truly takes flight nor does it turn into one of those monumental, all-consuming listening experiences that will make you lose track of time and place, but that does not mean that you should not acquaint yourself with it. The musicianship is great, the production is pretty damn good, and there are no low points or derivative tracks to speak of as such. On top of that, this is a spirited output with bags of potential, so I am very much looking forward to their sophomore effort and I hope that they will venture even further into the Native American legends and stories of old as that particular discourse is a fascinating one.