Artist: Acheron
Country: USA
Label: WolfKult Religion
Formats: 7” EP
Year: 2025
Acheron and its main member Vincent Crowley really shouldn’t require any introduction, and therefore I will blatantly assume you went straight for the juicy info on this release. Wolfkult Religion presents ‘Alla Xul’, by no means a new release but in fact a reissue of the classic single, originally released by Gutted Records in 1992. On this recording Vincent Crowley was joined by Mike Browning, Tony Blakk and Vincent Breeding, a line-up that was together for a couple of years and recorded a track on the ‘Triumph of Death’ split with Samael, Beherit, Carcass, Death yell and Mortuary as well the ‘Satanic Victory’ EP / ‘Hail Victory’ album. In fact, both these songs off ‘Alla Xul’ would eventually appear on ‘Hail Victory’, that despite being recorded during the same session in November 1992 would only be released some three years after the release of the 7” EP (and after the second full-length release, ‘Lex Talionis’).
For the freshly reissued version of this single, the band and label chose the cult classic picture disc vinyl format. While there may have been a time that picture discs sounded worse than regular black vinyl, anno 2025 that is certainly not the case. In fact, the heavier production of ‘Alla Xul’ compared to ‘Rites of the Black Mass’ and ‘Lex Talionis’ comes across perfectly. It makes the basic downtuned Death Metal with room for more brooding and slower parts come across rather perfectly, in fact better than on any of those early albums. That is not in the least because ‘Alla Xul’ is straight to the point: ‘Alla Xul’ on side A and ‘One with Darkness’ on side B. Unlike the intros between every song that are a trademark for the early Acheron releases (and no doubt divide opinions thereof), the tracks on this 7” are simply split by the vinyl-flipping dexterity of the listener. I personally like it that way, it keeps the music, which is rather basic to begin with, to the point and powerful.
Despite all the objections that people have had with Acheron, their name still stands firmly carved in the history of US Death Metal. The band is a perfect example that music doesn’t need any complexity if the riffs are heavy and catchy. With so much focus today on unnecessary frills and artificial pompous productions, ‘Alla Xul’ remains a testimony of the power of the Death Metal scene at that time. It makes it, along with ‘Satanic Victory’, still a release that is well worth owning especially if you couldn’t bear the intros between the songs on the records. And I must add, the picture disc looks, and sounds the part!
