ACROLYSIS

ACROLYSIS     “Intoxicator”

By Dr. Abner Mality

Despite my reputation as a sadistic mad scientist, it gives me no pleasure to do a review like this. I don’t doubt that the three members of Australia’s ACROLYSIS are trying as hard as they can, but based on “Intoxicator”, they just don’t have what it takes to be a serious players in metal. Making things more distressing is the fact that they do show some signs of success...there’s just not enough of them.

The album is varied in its approach and is much more mainstream than I would have thought, since band name and album title suggest a thrash band. No such luck...many of the songs here are turgid and lacking intensity. Hanging over everything like a pall of smoke from a garbage fire are the weak vocals of one Konstantine Ana. His singing is thin, often flat and utterly free of grit. With more gutsy vocals, ACROLYSIS might have risen a notch or two. And I’m not saying he has to have gruff or guttural vocals. Even for commercial hard rock, they very rarely connect and often smother the songs.

“I Feel Like Lightning” kicks things off with an almost RAMONES style pop punk thrust and already Ana’s vocal deficiencies are clear. The title track follows and is an album bright spot. It is a very piano based track yet not a ballad...the piano actually drives the energy, with the guitars following. And Ana’s vocals are passable. “Insane” is a dreary grunge tinged semi-ballad, of which there are many. This tune just drags and the same applies to the frankly dreadful “A Nicotine Prayer” and “Melancholy In Stone”, which comes across like a subpar BUSH knockoff. A couple more tracks like “Dead Man’s Hand” would have been nice...this one is a nice cross between MOTORHEAD and “Fuel”-era METALLICA...simple but rocking.

The likes of “Nevermore” and “The Inevitable” are so bland, they almost don’t exist and will vanish from your mind even before they’re done. The doomier “No Compromise” could have been something, but Ana’s weak vocals kill the track. Ironically, the album ending “Phase 153” is one of the better songs, despite being the longest cut. It’s an instrumental prog metal work out full of sharp changes and more excellent use of piano...and no vocals.

I hate to slate an album like this, but there’s no way I can called “Intoxicator” anything but forgettable.

ACROLYSIS