Acrania are from the UK and play Death Metal. This is their début album.

I have really enjoyed their material to date, so I was eager to hear this album. Thankfully they have met my expectations as this release is chock full with enough crushing Death Metal and Deathcore to sink a battleship.

Acrania have a crystal clear sound that’s extraordinarily heavy and surgical in precision with its killing blows.

The band specialise in the type of bouncy Deathcore riffs that you can’t help but move around to. This is coupled with brutal hyperblasting to create Modern Death Metal that’s somewhere between the extremity of Infant Annihilator and the belligerent -core of All Shall Perish.

The vocals are as extreme as you’d expect, running the entire spectrum from pignoise to growls to screams. It’s a solid performance.

The songs are not just about the breakdowns though, as there’s more than enough Death Metal here to satisfy people who are put off by the -core part of the style. The band also have ample opportunity to show off their technical skills with occasional lead guitars that seem to flare out of nowhere before dying back once more and letting the relentless barrage of the rhythm guitars take the fore again.

A hugely enjoyable release that’s more than the sum of its colossal riffs; this is an album that takes the Deathcore template and makes it their own.

Highly recommended for all fans of sonic heaviness and utter brutality.