UK band AKARUSA YAMI was formed in the late summer of 2010, and have been an active live and recording unit since their formation. They have two EPs to their name, issued in 2011 and 2013 respectively, and in October 2015 they self released their full length debut “Heavy Climb”.
Akarusa Yami is a band that explore a fairly dark variety of metal, and one rather intense and aggressive at that. As with many others exploring a style that may be described as residing somewhere around the edges of the extreme, they use details that can be traced back to hardcore as a key facet of their music, in this case pairing it off with a technical variety of thrash metal that gives the material a more defined challenging nature, for listeners and performers both presumably.
The key identity mark for the band, to my ears, is the use of a guitar sound that comes across as somewhat unconventional. Mainly operating in the darker tonal ranges, they opt for a tight, rough and hard sounding guitar, constraining and dampening it so that it remains firm and dampened rather than rich and expressive, creating a sound that is rough and unpolished without being overly fuzzy and with few if any aspects of being textured. A hard punch if you like, with some djent-tinged details the only details that adds a slightly softer tinge to the instrument. Soft in this case meaning not quite as hard as the proverbial rock. The lighter guitar notes mainly comes into play as brief and presumably technically challenging solo bursts, with occasional elongated excursions of a similar nature for instrumental passages.
Quirky and at times unconventional rhythms underscore quite nicely in addition to adding a firm foundation of intensity throughout, and adding to the intensity is the guttural growls and occasional shouts of lead vocalist Tom. Some finer details find their way into these compositions as well, with futuristic synth details here and there adding a dystopian tinge, arguably with a slight nod to industrial metal, while on other occasions more delicate keyboard details or electronic effects provides a gentle contrast to the often oppressive angst, aggression and darkness that is explored in more detail.
The opening tracks here doesn’t quite manage to meet my expectations though. Not because they feature sections with clean, melodic regular lead vocals; a feature explored quite nicely indeed on second to last track Les Mere Terribles; but because these sections of regular vocals doesn’t come across as well executed on these opening tracks. I also find these opening cuts to come across as somewhat stilted, lacking in flow and with some odd sounding transitions that probably should have been worked with a bit more in the mix and production stage. The same applies to the aforementioned vocals I suspect.
I see title track Heavy Climb has been selected as the first single from the album, and as that is the first standout track on the album and a nice and intense one at that this is a logical choice. One of the strongest tracks on this album, and a creation that represents the band in a good way. Later on we’re also treated to a few nice, electronic dominated mood pieces, brief and mainly dystopian affairs giving us a few and elegant breaks from the more aggressive metal onslaught, and then there’s the concluding song The Natasha Trade of course. A strong creation with a strong message, revolving around a solemn piano motif, electronic effects and bass guitar, where the spoken voice of Joy Shannon is the central element. There’s a story told there that is important, although the latter parts of it is a tad hard to grasp as the increasingly dramatic arrangements starts drowning out the voice of the storyteller. It’s not a metal song, if one might even call it a song, as it is more of a story being told with supporting instrumentation creating and emphasizing certain moods by way of motifs and arrangements. A strong story though, and sadly a story rather relevant in most parts of the world and not merely Russia as is the setting in this creation. To whoever the composer is, I can also add that you have stories of a comparable nature not only affecting teens, the most dramatic cases of a similar nature I’ve heard of involves babies aged 2-3 months. Not identical I should add, but involving some of the same key elements.
As far as the music and the album as a whole is concerned, I find it to be a generally pleasant production with a few bright and clear highlights, and while the composition that made the most striking impact by far doesn’t really have any relation to metal as such, for the album as a whole I’d recommend those with a taste for dark, aggressive and quirky metal bordering the extreme to try it out for size, and especially those who have an affection for guttural shouted or growled vocals and some djent-tinged elements as central details within such a context.
My rating: 74/100
