Turkish duo Acrosome do not play porngrind, even if their name might suggest so (go find it on the net now, I know I got you interested about their name...). The music is filed under "oppressive shining post black metal" by the label Dusktone.

This is paradoxal listening. On the other hand, the band's attempt to achieve disorderly atmosphere is a success, but overusing those same elements can be a drag. The atmosphere is somewhere quite near to The Axis Of Perdition's 'Deleted Scenes from the Transition Hospital' (2005) album, which I couldn't get into, minus all bland "Silent Hill" game series influences plaguing that release. Scraping guitars, various synthesizer work, and insane screams and other mental vocalic stuff are repeated too much throughout this release. The songs tend to plunge into these "mental hospital" (or rather, "metal brain" in this case) ambiences too often, forgetting about actual music. And at times, this acting goes way over to comical side. Metal music here is about oppressive and morose black metal in slower tempos, where no typical song writing methods are present. I think you could call it "stream of consciousness". It's a dense soundscape to enter to. I think here's the answer to a question, that might have emerged when reading the band's genre: Acrosome do have some Shining influences, but no such fluidity in compositions, except on songs 'Atenor' and 'Acrosome'.

I can't get into this kind of material without any guiding lyrics and such (this is what I hate about promos with a CD and a biography sheet alone), and it's all in Turkish anyway. Therefore, 'Dementia Praecox' leaves me almost entirely cold. And no, that's not in a positive way, even if it's about bleak music. Surely, it does feel intriguing at times, so if you are looking for mental state ambience-cum-black metal, this might be for you then.

Rating: 4½ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
11/02/2011 09:32