asthenia - Akallabêth - Split - 7

Labels: Disposable Culture – Forge Records – Friendly Otter – Mellow Club – Rubaiyat – ruined smile – The Burden of Reflecting – Two Moons Records – Wolf Town DIY
Review by: Oli Saunders

A few on Collective rave about Asthenia but I’ve never got on board; for me they are not in the same league as modern bands such as Belle Ô°poque and Sinaloa, let alone the “classics”. But I’ll admit they are still a decent emo band; they play out two songs here with plenty of passion: track one has a solid melodic riff, which builds up from time to time with the vocals transitioning with it into screams. The second song has a Null Punkt Kelvin feel to it – not just the fact that one singer does some singing while the other screams, but the actual sound of their voices too. It’s neat.

Akallabêth hail from the UK and have been described as “Tolkien-themed screamo”. I thought it was just Ottawa who fitted that niche. They play plenty of interesting instrumental parts, over which there are some fairly blanket vocals. I’d like to see the latter refined and then there will something promising. Okay I just read that these are the bands final songs so ignore that. The end of the first track is the best, with meandering guitars and desperate vocals over the top.

17th April 2017