Label - Peaceville Records
Release Date - 21st July 2023
Words- Tony Bliss
The emergence of Akercocke in the late nineties was like manna from heaven (or hell) for the UK underground. Fiercely original and eccentric, impeccably attired and as legitimately satanic as anything the scene had been privy to before (or indeed since) this was light years away from your cartoonishly daubed pentagrams and inverted crucifix bollocks - much like a then peak-form Cradle Of Filth, there was something of the old-world ingrained in Akercocke’s sonic DNA, and whilst Cradle harnessed this towards all things baroque and gothic, these Londoners wielded an almost supernatural ability to sound like they were being driven on by the great horned one himself. With Akercocke, it’s vivid, and it’s real, but the music always does the talking.
Although few could argue that the band's unholy triumvirate remains 2003’s genuinely breathtaking Chronozon, and subsequent follow up’s Words That Go Unspoken, Deeds That Go Undone and Antichrist, it is just as true that Akercocke have never put a foot wrong creatively. Comprised of choice cuts from their first two full-length records - The Rape Of The Bastard Nazarene and The Goat Of Mendes respectfully -and recorded at the legendary London Underworld in 2007, Decades Of Devil Worship not only hammers home their credentials as an extraordinary live band but reaffirms just why these dapper gents captured the extreme metal worlds imagination right from the off. So when ‘Hell’ kicks into life amid a whirlpool of discordant, peerlessly violent death, the likes of ‘Nadja’ and ‘Zulieka’ pledge homage to various succubi over pitiless blasting and ‘A Skin For Dancing In’ indulges all the bands perverse, progressive urges, it's clear that these tracks - like some diabolical union of Deicide, Killing Joke, Voivod, Possessed and Bauhaus - were already awash with ideas, blackened ultra-violence and dark-hearted artistry of the very highest calibre, even so early in Akercockes career.
Although they would go on to deliver more definitive statements further down the line, this is a more than welcome revisit of formative years that would put the vast majority of extreme metal acts thoroughly and firmly in the dust. Not only this, but these live renditions resound with the sort of infernal power of a band still very much on top of their game, each snare hit and riff attacked with unhallowed relish and aglow with hellfire. When frontman Jason Mendonca proclaims ‘Do you feel him among us? Do you feel my father Satan?’ towards the end of ‘The Horns Of Baphomet’, you can feel the intent burning with white-hot fealty to Beelzebub. As ten-minute closer ‘The Ceremony Of Nine Angels’ fades out on some industrial throbbing and chants of ‘Akercocke!’ from a clearly rabid crowd, the takeaway from these thirteen tracks is simple; hail Satan, but more importantly hail Akercocke, forever.
9/10
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