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The HMO Guide to Akercocke

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Akercocke is out of the cage! The reunited satanic extreme metallers’ UK tour is underway at last, with the mighty The King is Blind in support. It’s easily the must-see gig of the year. I can’t wait to see them next week and, because I’m taking EvaOverload along, I decided to put together a beginner’s guide to the Ak on Spotify for her. And now I’ve decided to share it with you. Praise Beelzebub!

Although Spotify playlists have no limits I decided to keep my selection within a CD running time, coming in at 69mins. Akercocke’s debut album The Rape of the Bastard Nazarene is unavailable on Spotify so, sadly, I couldn’t include any of those early tracks. But the upside to that was that it made things a bit easier: even though I was only left with four studio albums to pick from, it was still a pretty tricky endeavour. Some crucial tracks like Horns of Baphomet, Praise the Name of Satan, My Apterous Angel and Seduced couldn’t make the grade. And the often lengthy nature of their songs made it tricky to stick within the time limit too.

So calling this the Best of Akercocke is a little bit of a stretch but I reckon it’s a great introduction for newbies. Even those normally reluctant to dive into such extreme waters will find much to enjoy here. There are flaying shredders like Of Menstrual Blood and Semen and Becoming the Adversary but there is also plenty of melody in tracks like A Skin for Dancing In and Axiom.  The epic, proggy side of Ak is given an airing in the classic Leviathan and the sublime Shelter From the Sand (Rush fans should check that one out). The Dark Inside and Son of the Morning show off the band’s euphoric stylistic range, the power of the riff compels you in Verdelet and Enraptured By Evil is just a flat-out battering. It’s all brilliant, essential stuff.

Here’s the track listing for those without Spotify. Hope you enjoy and please let me know what you think. You’ll be wearing a suit and summoning the Antichrist before you know it. And if you become a convert there’s still time to catch the band on their UK tour. Tell them HMO sent you.

  1. Of Mentrual Blood and Semen
  2. A Skin for Dancing In (from The Goat of Mendes)
  3. Leviathan
  4. Enraptured By Evil
  5. Son of the Morning
  6. Becoming the Adversary (from Choronzon)
  7. Verdelet
  8. Shelter from the Sand
  9. The Penance (from Words That Go Unspoken)
  10. Axiom
  11. The Dark Inside (from Antichrist)
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67 thoughts on “The HMO Guide to Akercocke”

      1. Sure man ….when the Cult/keifer were here back in July that was one of the first time i ever took pics. It can be a total nusiance for sure! Back in 2012 when I went to see Maiden someone asked me if i took pics. I said why bother the youtube uploads will be posted by others….

        Liked by 2 people

      2. I always try to take a couple of pics at the show, these days – for the blog! They never turn out that well, but whatever. 😉 Agreed, though, you wanna just enjoy the show and have fun.

        I have tried video, but the sound just pummels the little mic on a phone. I have a video of Gojira playing L’enfant Sauvage and, well, the video is decent! 😉

        Liked by 1 person

      12. Actually i lied the first ever selfie i took was with Aarons Sidekick Chris Murphy from Sloan! HA! I told him to bear with me as I never do selfies..hahaha. He was real chill about it!

        Liked by 1 person

      17. I still snap a couple of shite photies anyway, but the phone is mostly in my pocket for the gig!

        No tickets in hand right now. James is the king of going to shows, for sure! But I’ve told Brother Wilf that when Metallica tours for this new record, We. Are. Going. 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

      19. Nope, never seen them either. The opportunity has come around many times, but something always comes up – work, school night, lack of money, and I never get to the gig. Yup, I’ve been missing them in concert since high school! It’s practically a ritual, at this point…

        Liked by 1 person

      30. Numpties numpties numpties numpties numpties numpties numpties numpties numpties numpties numpties numpties numpties numpties numpties numpties numpties numpties numpties numpties numpties numpties numpties..

        I love that word.

        Liked by 1 person

      31. No nothing is coming around these parts….kinda blah right now for live shows. If u look at a map Tbay is in the middle of nowhere …some bands use it as a Gas STOP….make some dough and move on….thats why all my shows are basically out of town reviews but The Cult and that rock bill that day was a bonus!

        Liked by 1 person

      3. When I say “that playlist has helped me wake up” what I meant was “I just hit play and I’m now well and truly awake”.

        I have to hold my hands up and say I didn’t last more than two tracks. That was a bit too heavy for me. Just a bit. Y’know, like, a bit.

        Liked by 1 person

      4. Haha better than coffee, this stuff! (I need both though)

        Their earlier stuff is heavier so, if you want an “in”, start at the end and work back… it is still all pretty heavy though to be honest. Not necessarily for everybody!

        Liked by 1 person

      6. Yeah it is an interesting fact! Didn’t know that was how you got into them. I do like how they used that track in the series too, it’s insane. I kinda wish I could like The Beatles… some songs are OK but a lot of it just does nothing for me.

        Akercocke came from Robert Nye’s version of Faust. It was the name of a talking Capuchin monkey that was a character in it. It’s a weird name but it’s quite different, it stands out!

        Liked by 1 person

  7. There’s a great line from Zoolander where Derek tells Billy Zane, “you’ve gotta tame the beast before you let it out of its cage”

    It doesn’t sound like Akercocke was tamed at all prior to cage exit!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
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