ACHERONTE - Ancient Furies

Acheronte - Ancient Furies (2016, Satanath Records)

The number 7 is the key element of this new album by the Italians of Acheronte and their Black Metal that reminds of Bathory and their Under the Sign of the Black Mark era and Marduk’s Heaven Shall Burn When We Are Gathered. Ancient Furies is composed of seven songs, about seven monarchs for seven furies. In the vein of the second wave of Black Metal and the spirit of De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas by Mayhem, Acheronte are giving many glimpses of well executed Black Metal.

Ancient Furies delivers and won’t disappoint either but it is also a formula that’s been done before. Nothing new but everything is well done without a false note. The choice of seven tracks keeps them from falling into an overly long record and the inevitable drags of unedited debut albums. The pacing is also in a decent order but there are many songs that are monochrome and the album as this homogeneous aspect of a full block and almost like a concept album the songs are united together.

Acheronte have a strong sound that is aggressive yet catchy as they incorpore 80’s Metal elements in their song intros like in ‘’Flagellum Dei (Attila)’’ that could have been straight outta Thrash Metal record of the Bay Area. These early Thrash Metal elements keep getting back to the roots of Black Metal in German bands like early Kreator and Sodom.

As their debut full length, Ancient Furies is a solid intallment that promise a lot in the vein of Black Metal purists. The production is not lo-fi, it was in their earliests efforts, but it is compressed a lot and many sounds are lost in the vacuum-like torpedo that their constant blasting creates.

7.5