Acheron - 'The Final Conflict: Last Days Of God'

Old school death metal has groove but needs a good edit.

Acheron, headed by the misanthropic Vincent Crowley, has played death metal since 1988. In all likelihood, they were beginning to play metal when many of today’s young death metal stars were beginning their lives. Despite their tenure their output has been erratic and Acheron has often dropped off the map. The band has returned with The Final Conflict: Last Days of God. The album will please those who like death metal played in the 1990s Florida style but should be much more compact.

Vincent Crowley has long railed against Christianity. On this album, which shares the name of a bad Omen sequel, he broadens his palate and takes on all religion with a style and anger reminiscent of his earlier work. The best songs are simple and short. The guitars on the early parts of “Rise of Rebellion” have an “Electric Funeral” like fuzzy weirdness and “Salvation Through Hatred” boasts a Six Feet Under death-and-roll grove. “Blood Path,” is a passable re-recording of an old Acheron track.

Vincent Crowley’s vocals are a high point; he screams with Glen Benton-style venom but you can understand almost every word. You know what you’re getting when it comes to aesthetics and lyrics – organized religion stinks and prepare for Holy War. It’s not new or interesting but then again most death metal isn’t known for Shakespearean prose.  

What makes this album drag is the editing. The riffs and ideas work but too many song plow past the five-minute mark and sound repetitive. The album would hit harder if songs did their job quickly. There’s also too much fluff;  the almost seven-minute “The Apocalypse,” starts with a wailing siren, one of the most overused sound effects in metal history. It should be banned from all future metal albums. The battle metaphor is way overused here, too.

What The Final Conflict needed was someone to reign in the material. It’s a decent death metal album but a bit too bloated to recommend.