5 of 6 thought this review was well writtenNamed after the evil capuchin monkey given to Faust by Mephistopheles in Robert Nye's "Faust", Akercocke burst onto the UK underground scene with this ferocious debut.
This remains the only demo CD to be made "Album of the Month" in Terrorizer, and rightly so. Akercocke had already gained a huge following through their savage live performances in which, the band would appear dressed in sharp black, undertakers suits. This obviously made the band stand out from the ten million Cannibal Angel and Morbid Corpse clones doing the rounds.
ROTBN did not dissapoint. For the first time in some years there was a slightly different take on death metal. The roots of the sound were the same (Death and Possessed mainly) but this CD had a sinister, almost slinky feeling to it. Although crushingly brutal, the riffs creeped their way into your subconscious and vocalist (and quite frankly mentalist) Jason Mendonca spewed forth blasphemy ina nalmost sexual manner. Speaking of sex, there's a lot of it in here, witness especially in songs such as Marguirite and Grethcen (the songs are all based around the seven succubi).
Special mention should also go to drummer, who not only is the lyricist for the band, also adds a lot of feel to the music with beats that are not truly metal in the traditional sense. There are a LOT of blasts but then there are some almost mechanical beats and a lot of syncopation.
So there you have it - the most important british debut since "Principle of Evil Made Flesh" and a band that were worth the hype.
Pros:
Originality
Vocals
Brutal Riffs
Excellent Drumming
Raw, Raw, Raw production
Cons:
Bad, bad, bad production
Too many interludes/intros
