Akercocke
| Akercocke | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| origin | London , UK |
| Genre (s) | Progressive Metal , Death Metal , Black Metal |
| founding | 1997 |
| resolution | around 2011 |
| Founding members | |
| Jason Mendonca | |
| David Gray | |
| Last occupation | |
Electric guitar, vocals |
Jason Mendonca |
Electric guitar |
Dan Knight (since 2010) |
| Peter Benjamin (since 2007) | |
Drums |
David Gray |
| former members | |
Electric guitar |
Paul Scanlan (1997-2004) |
Electric guitar |
Matt Wilcock (2005-2010) |
Electric bass |
Peter Theobalds (1997-2007) |
Akercocke is a British Black - / death metal - band from London, in their music elements of the Progressive Metals were incorporated. The band members were known to be practicing Satanists . They wore suits and ties in photos and occasionally at appearances, which is why they were referred to as "elitist lifestyle Satanists".
Band history
The band was formed in 1997 by school friends Jason Mendonca ( electric guitar ) and David Gray ( drums ). Both played in the band Salem Orchid until 1992, which was re-formed in 1996. After their occupation broke up a little later, Mendonca and Gray decided to found Akercocke. The name Akercocke comes from the English language Faust , where it is the spiritus familiaris of Faust's famulus Wagner. Paul Scanlan joined as a second guitarist and Peter Theobalds as bassist . The band released their first album Rape of the Bastard Nazarene in 1999 through their own record label, Goats of Mendes . Due to the positive response, Akercocke was signed by Peaceville Records , where The Goat of Mendes was released in 2001 . After the band switched to Earache Records in mid-2003 , Choronzon was released in late 2003 . At the end of 2004 guitarist Paul Scanlan left the group. A replacement for him was only found in the spring of 2005 with Matt Wilcock (formerly The Berzerker ). With this new line-up, the next studio album, Words That Go Unspoken, Deeds that go Undone was recorded and released in Europe in October 2005 and in the USA in February 2006. This album was also received positively. This was followed by a tour of Europe and the USA. At the beginning of 2007 bassist Peter Theobals was replaced by Peter Benjamin. The last studio album Antichrist was released in May 2007 via Earache Records. This ended the record deal with Earache and the band decided to return to the DIY principle. In the following years Akercocke limited himself to live activities on weekends and performed at a few festivals. Singer and guitarist Mendonca was only available to a limited extent because he had a job in the IT industry and had also started a family. Drummer David Gray was a tour drummer with My Dying Bride and founded the project The Antichrist Imperium together with guitarist Matt Wilcock. In 2010 Wilcock left Akercocke and was succeeded by Dan Knight. In spring 2011 the band performed at the Inferno Metal Festival Norway . Since then, Akercocke has taken an indefinite break.
In 2017 the break ended and with Renaissance In Extremis a new release of the band was released by Peaceville / Edel.
Style and demeanor
Musically speaking, Akercocke began with a mixture of Black and Death Metal with correspondingly satanic lyrics. The band members emphasize that they are actually Satanists. With the 2003 album Choronzon the music became more complex and changed completely with the 2005 album Words That Go Unspoken, Deeds that go Undone . The band combined their “absurdly brutal” mixture of death and black metal with elements from indie rock , vocal harmonies based on the model of progressive metal bands like Anacrusis and progressive rock bands like Rush or noise rock bands like Sonic Youth , as well as elements of world music from bands like Dead Can Dance .
Characteristic for the band was their appearance in a suit and tie both at photo shoots and occasionally at appearances, which is why they were referred to as "elitist lifestyle satanists". With this image Akercocke wanted to expose the stereotypes of the black metal scene.
Discography
- 1999: Rape of the Bastard Nazarene
- 2001: The Goat of Mendes ( Peaceville Records )
- 2003: Choronzon ( Earache Records )
- 1999: Rape of the Bastard Nazarene (re-release, Earache Records)
- 2006: Words That Go Unspoken, Deeds That Go Undone (Earache Records)
- 2007: Antichrist (Earache Records)
- 2017: Renaissance In Extremis (Peaceville Records)
Videos
- The Goat (promo video)
- Horns Of Baphomet (promo video)
- Infernal Rites (promo video)
- Leviathan (promo video, 2003)
- Axiom (promo video, 2007)
Web links
Footnotes
- ↑ Eliza Marian Butler: The Fortunes of Faust . Cambridge University Press, 1952, ISBN 978-0-521-29552-9 , pp. 61 .
- ↑ a b c Whats up With Akercocke? Ask Earache, May 18, 2011, accessed February 28, 2013 .
- ^ A b c Jeff Wagner: Mean Deviation: Four Decades of Progressive Heavy Metal . Bazillion Points Books, 2010, pp. 336 .
- ↑ David Gray: Akercocke ( Memento from September 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Manuel Trummer: Sympathy for the Devil? Waxmann Verlag, Münster 2011, ISBN 978-3-8309-2575-0 , p. 37 .