Album Review: Acrolysis - Black Dog's Serenade (2019)

Two years ago Acrolysis predicted that the revolution was coming. After they teased us with the single 'Where has your God gone now?', this summer the wait for first full-length album has ended: "Black Dog's Serenade" can now be bought, streamed and enjoyed.

The five new tracks on Acrolysis' first album are crammed with heavy riffing, metallic sounds, stomping beats, and an unexpected high level of melody. Except for the ballad 'Shadow of Gold' the Sydney-based bands clubs their way through the songs in a massively intense mid-tempo manner. The sound on "Black Dog's Serenade" reminds of early days' Metallica or Megadeth combined with some Sodom, and an undeniable influence by 80s US Hardcore Punk such as Black Flag, Dead Kennedys or NoMeansNo.

The most striking feature is Konstantine's vocals that appear very untypical at first hearing. The element of surprise immediately catches the listerners' attention and is a crucial point of Acrolysis' unique sound. While the rough and heavy sound of the instruments makes you expect barking vocals, Konstantine's melodic voice create a beautiful discrepancy in the soundscape on "Black Dog's Serenade".

Beyond the raw mixture of Heavy Metal and Thrash Punk there are Acrolysis' lyrics pointing at the insanity of contemporary politics and zeitgeist. Their provocative approach between direct confrontation and metaphoric poetry perfectly fits the tradition of 80s Hardcore Punk and Thrash Metal. "Black Dog's Serenade" is kicking ass and raising the middle finger.
This is a great piece of mid-tempo Thrash Metal Punk with contemporary themes and good variety in musical terms. The final track "Fifty Four" with its high-speed licking pleased me especially.

Line Up:
Mytal Baba - bass
Amit Bamay - drums
Konstantine Ana - guitar & vocals

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