Germany’s heavy hitters Acranius has been on a constant roll releasing some quality releases over the years. I first got into the band around 2018 after hearing their last full-length album titled Reign Of Terror in which I thought it was absolutely crushing and amazingly crafted of a record. Fast forward to 2022, we have the new offering by the band and this is the fourth studio recording by Acranius titled Mercy Denied and is the band’s first album to be self released and not under a major label since their previous records were under Rising Nemesis Redords. Musically, if you know Acranius’ musical structure they play a torturous, gory and brutalized style of brutal death metal but they also incorporate deathcore timed signatures and hardcore-esque arrangements as the songs still maintain the brutality and instrumentals provide a slam oriented and aggressively driven breakdowns in which the band is known doing.
What sets apart of this album in comparison to Reign Of Terror is the craftsmanship, production and progressiveness these German musicians are capable of have really matured over the years as some of the songs like Ruthless, Rule Of Seven, Still Unconquered and Crooked Leech have these Devourment and Cephalotripsy styled components really makes the album destructive and Mercy Denied is a naturalist album showcasing the band’s matured, heaviest and nastiest filled material to date. From the varied vocals, audible drumming, distinguished and grindy headbanging assaults of the instrumentals sounding purifying as ever sounded before, each member from Acranius does a wonderfully splendid job keeping their rotated progressions a much more diverse, ravaging and monstrous complements giving the album a fresh philosophic sound.
The amount of delivery and execution patterns the album naturally portrays making the tracks accustomed without any wear or tear keeping the interpretations, lyrical content and blistering multilateral instrumentation a phenomenal display of cultivated aggression. Even this album does contained some of the earlier hardcore melodies from the album Dishonor and the slam infused atmosphere of The Echo of Her Cracking Chest but this time around they’ve experimented different hybrids of music and have successfully captured the overall themes of this album and became such a wonderful listening experience. Mercy Denied marks a new chapter into the band’s catalog and if you liked Reign Of Terror or past releases, then look no further and give this a shot.
Overall Score: 9.0/10
Review by Jake Butler
