Akephalos - Headless Demon Angel

If the angel's headless, where does the halo go?

(Originally submitted to the Metal Archives on November 21st 2020)  

Kentucky's Akephalos is a brutal death metal act that has been around since 2009, yet has only released a single EP in 2011. Headless Demon Angel is the band's 2017 debut, which I only heard about thanks to a certain someone stumbling upon them and showing them to me. What we have here is 41 minutes of well executed brutal death metal, which is sure to leave any fans of the genre more than satisfied, if not wanting more.
An organ and some female vocals set the stage, and almost immediately “Spewed Forth From the Womb of Hell'' lurches at the listener with a slow riff, which slowly ramps up to blistering speeds, with leads to match. From that point onward the band expertly alternates tempos and speeds and throws a slew of memorable leads at us along with a bunch of catchy riffs. It’s a very strong start to the album and perfectly showcases what this band is all about: crushing riffs and dizzying leads. Following that “The Sins of a Sadistic Priest” further ramps up the speed, barely giving us any breathing room to relax, with its driving double bass on the chorus being a particular highlight.

The middle of the album continues in a similar fashion and keeps the quality up, with tracks like “Suffer Forever” and “Putrid Rot” making for some of the best parts of the album. The former opens with an acoustic guitar riff that slowly melds with a bludgeoning mid-paced riff, and then the band shifts into full gear and starts beating us over the head with riff after riff. A notable section here is the stop-start riff that appears at 2:31, underpinning the lead guitar and Brandon Boling’s vocals, which are very reminiscent of Frank Mullen’s work with Suffocation, albeit a bit clearer and more well enunciated. “Putrid Rot” on the other hand is somewhat slower, but in no way lacking in intensity, giving us some more insane leads and even a catchy vocal chorus, which isn’t something one encounters often in brutal death metal. 
The latter half has a very slight dip in quality, with tracks like “The Hierophant” and “Apocrypha” being rather forgettable, barring the piano keys used to accentuate parts of the former, while the latter is just too short to leave much of an impact. Between those tracks though we have 2 heavy hitters, those being “Corpse Made Halo” and “Ophidian Desecration”, both of which give us more catchy riffs, with “Corpse Made Halo” having a great buildup to a surprisingly melodic solo at 2:27. The closer, “Ophidian Desecration” is a nice track to end things on, with notable sections being the alternating riffs that start at 2:00 and the leads that close off the album, supported by a very meaty riff that’s with double bass underneath. 
Now you might’ve noticed that I haven’t brought up slams during this review, which is admittedly odd for a brutal death metal album. It’s primarily because the band leans more towards the technical end of the spectrum and doesn’t really use them, opting instead for the fantastic leads I’ve mentioned multiple times already. So, if you’re looking for beefy slams and nothing else you will most likely be disappointed by what’s on offer. 
 The production here is decent, as while being all around quite good, there are some things that bothered me about it. The guitars are quite thick and have a nice tone, which is especially apparent when the band slows down, and the bass guitar, which is arguably what I love hearing the most in metal, is buried in the mix, though its presence can be felt, supplementing the riffs. The vocals are front and centre in the mix, though they don’t overpower the rest of the instruments, which is the norm for most death metal. Now the drums are a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand they’re mixed dynamically, with the snare and the double bass taking centre stage on some songs and really help make those moments hit a bit harder (see “Suffer Forever”). On the other hand, the cymbals fluctuate between being audible and barely being present in the song (see 0:55 of “Sermon of Evil”, all that’s heard is a very faint clicking), which is weird to say the least. 
Headless Demon Angel is the work of a band that has full knowledge of what they want to create, and has the required skills to successfully pull it off. It’s a genuine shame that it went under the radar at the time of release, as it’s a well put together album that deserves more attention than what it originally received. What’s also disappointing is that we probably won’t see another release from these guys, since they don’t seem to have done anything else for the past 4 years. It’d be nice to be proven wrong.
Highlights: Headless Demon Angel, Suffer Forever, Putrid Rot, Corpse Made Halo

Rating: 84% 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Batushka & Houle concert report, 28/09/2025

Image
Salted Wounds and Incense; or, a Black Metal escapade Besides getting to know a place like the back of your hand, I’m a firm believer that you’ve truly made yourself at home somewhere when you start participating in the area’s local artistic events, which, for a guy like me, tend to begin and end with attending concerts of artists passing through the area. It’s a great way of meeting people with similar interests as you, and as we all know, shared experiences foster connection between people, through reminiscing and simply “being in the moment”. It’s always been the little things that stuck with me at shows, and a city as small as Thessaloniki is proud to boast of a very tight-knit metal community, where everyone’s a regular at the same few places, and tends to show up in the same shows as you do. You get to see some people you’ve talked to in passing, and perhaps even share an awkward “Were you in [X] show? Wasn’t it cool?” moment. There’s a charm to such interactions that is hard t...
Read more

Sacred Serenity - Redefining Life

Image
Hit 'em with the brain destroyer. I haven’t gone digging in a while, but I generally take great pleasure in stumbling upon up-and-coming bands, preferably ones that could be defined as “hungry”. Musicians pour their hearts into their art, and then thrust it upon an unsuspecting public in hopes of being seen and appreciated by however small a group. It takes a lot of courage and drive to do that, and it’s such a quality that defines Sacred Serenity, and their debut, Redefining Life . This one-man progressive deathrash (!) project is helmed by the young (even younger at the time of this album’s release) Jonas Doehler, who somehow managed to put together something that one would expect from veterans of the style, all while juggling five more active bands at the time of writing. Talk about having a busy schedule. Clocking in at less than 25 minutes (without the instrumental version of the album), this is a release that operates on “shock and awe” tactics. Though there are moments of re...
Read more

Elder - Lore

Image
Albums I like a lot: Part II (Originally submitted to the Metal Archives on August 21st 2021)  Stoner doom’s always been a hit or miss genre for me. On one hand, it has a vibe and energy that can scarcely be matched by other styles, on the other you can only hear so many bands rip off Sabbath riffs before you get bored. As a whole it’s a very single minded style that rarely goes beyond being heavy and “weed lmao”. And I say rarely because Elder exists. While their earliest work falls in that category (more specifically their self-titled), they’ve always had a unique flavour to them. Ever since Dead Roots Stirring they’ve added these subtle psychedelic and at times progressive touches that helped them stand out from the rest of the bands in the genre. Their third outing, Lore stands out for being the perfect marriage of psych and stoner doom, and has cemented itself as my favourite album in the genre, and by extension the band’s catalogue. From the very first few...
Read more