June 2008

Artist: Akphaezya
Title: Anthology II
Type: Album
Label: Ascendance Records


So just what have we got here then? A cover with nightmarish artwork that looks like it has escaped from an asylum (you wouldn’t want to get afflicted with Stendahl syndrome to this), a spiky logo that screams kvlt black metal at you and a band name that would score a fair few points at scrabble. There is a clue to what this may be like as the label is Ascendance and there is a picture on the back of the promo of 3 guys in a field around a broken down 2CV and a lass in knee high socks a flowery dress and boots striding towards the camera with a litre of milk and a snarl on her face. The camping trip has gone wrong perhaps, just what does it all mean?

Well apparently Anthology II was released as demo versions back in 2004 and has now been re-recorded. It is the first of a projected five album series each part to follow in asynchronous order and one dealing with musical and visual form based on a realm of ‘escapist invention’ from the mind of guitarist Stephen H Akphaezya (well at least that explains the group’s name). So if you think this all sounds a bit hi-brow you would be completely correct! If you think it sounds like a load of pretentious codswallop, well no comment from me on that score.

Needless to say the music matches this eccentricity and mixes a million styles, (which if you really wanted to truly get your head round you would have to put aside a month of Sundays). I have to admit this has been hard work to review and after countless listens I am only just getting to grips with this and enjoying it. At first I kept finding that the album had finished and I had failed to really take anything in (not like me at all) so this does require a certain amount of work and dedication from the listener to appreciate fully.

So a crash course in the musicality of the album? OK here goes. ‘Preface’ takes you in with a trip hop vibe and by track seven which I am playing as we speak ‘The Golden Vortex Of Kaltaz’ I am listening to classic piano, which is totally dreamy in a sort of Mendelssohn fashion, well it was till we got a burst of blackened riffing and sassy female vocals courtesy of Nehl Aelin who has a fantastic and wholly versatile range over the length of the album. This does not warrant a track by track dissection and if it got one the review would be pages long as this changes style so many times over the 50 minute running time. In fact if you play a track it is akin to opening a book on a random page and starting to read.

What you do get are jazz passages, bits of torch song and lounge core type segments, Middle Eastern acoustics, death romps, complete with gruff male vocals, black surges and gallops, free-flowing instrumentals, prog workouts with accordion, a touch of salsa, some scat vocals, some reggae, arghh my head is melting. This French band have the sort of weird joy de vivre about them that we could associate with the out there eccentricities of say Carnival Of Coal and it is no surprise that they have found a home on Lee Barrett’s (ex To Mera) label. As far as comparing Akphaezya to any other band forget it, they are completely unique and standing in a field all of their own and they have admirably provided me with the most difficult album I have had to review in a very long time.

For this I applaud them.

It’s also well worth a visit to the singers Myspace below for some great cover songs.

http://www.myspace.com/akphaezya http://www.myspace.com/nehlaelin http://ascendancerecords.com