Acrolysis is a heavy metal band from Australia formed in 2017, releasing their debut E.P. ‘Black Dog’s Serenade’ in 2019, and full length debut album ‘Revolution‘ in 2023.
Hailing from Sydney (New South Wales), the four-piece metal band Acrolysis return with more big riffs and a heavier hitting attitude courtesy of their debut album ‘Revolution‘ – eleven songs across a barnstorming fifty-four minutes featuring six new ones and all five from the bands 2017 demo ‘The Revolution Is Coming…‘. And six years later the revolution is here, ‘Revolution‘ the album opens with ‘The Broken Son’, a four-minute “calm before the storm” instrumental – massively melodic and nothing at all like what’s about to unfold! The hard-hitting ‘Kingdom Come’ unfolds in a cacophony of thunder, the band once again echoing “black album” era Metallica – only with more punch and bombast! Acrolysis is back, more muscular and more emphatic than ever before, the album’s opener (proper) an immediate sit up and take notice moment.
The title song ‘Revolution’, builds a crescendo of anticipation for the first minute, launching headlong into a mid-tempo “foot on the monitor” fury – the band echoing the iconic sound of the evolutionary NWOBHM movement! Just imagine for a moment if Metallica were a British band, and you’ll have some idea of the Acrolysis sound – I say some idea because until you actually listen to the Australian outfit, you’ve got no idea of how the band sounds! The band have a much more punchy and thunderous sound than the “British Metallica” descriptor would suggest – ‘Revolution’ (the song) slamming listeners to the floor with incredible force, The opening double salvo has been nothing short of breathtaking, the band impressing even more than four years ago, ‘Revolution’ (the album) marching on with the regal sounding ‘All Quiet On The Homefront’. Battering the senses with a meaty barrage of heavy metal, ‘All Quiet On The Homefront’ maintains the album’s incredibly hard-hitting nature, with Acrolysis hitting harder than a thousand wrecking balls! I just can’t stress enough how hard the band hit – it’s phenomenal! Picking up the pace, ‘Over The Razor Fence’ takes on a little thrash metal ambience, straddling the border between the genres of traditional heavy metal and thrash, the band making their music attractive to a much wider audience than ever before!
The band are in a defiant mood with their debut album, delivering a myriad of metal styles to attract a wide range of fans into the band’s soundscape – ‘Liar’ marching on with just as much thunder as every other song heard so far. And the glorious guitar sound of the iconic NWOBHM remains steadfast in everything the band do, more so with ‘Liar’, metal traditionalists the world over loving ‘Revolution’ (the album). And why wouldn’t they? ‘Revolution’ (the album) is a tremendous traditional metal gallop, Acrolysis changing down the gears to adopt the mighty foot-stomping style of heavy metal courtesy of the ground shuddering ‘Blue Hour’. Crumbling walls and reducing buildings to rubble, ‘Blue Hour’ is a devastating display of all-out brute force, a deafening tirade of “take no prisoners” muscular metal! With the album’s unforgiving heavy nature showing no signs of relenting, ‘Revolution’ (the album) storms on with ‘Salting The Earth’, battering listeners round the head with immense brutality! Thrash metal brutality that is – the band standing tall and proud on the bridge between thrash and heavy metal! A definite change of sound and direction from four years ago, I dunno what the band have been eating, or indeed drinking, but whatever it is, I hope they’ve got an unending supply, ’cause this “newer” Acrolysis is a far better band than what I heard before!
The crushing display of heavy metal on offer is relentless, the album’s intensity fucking incredible, the band pounding the ground hard with ‘Serpentine’ – a sparkling blend of every style Acrolysis have in their arsenal. An arsenal that’s stocked high with incendiary devices and explosives, the band letting all hell break loose with a devastating display of volcanic proportions! And we all know how devastating volcanic proportions can be – ‘At The End Of The Day’ cruising into view with a much more melodious feel than everything heard so far, the band hopping over the border into hard rock territory. ‘At The End Of The Day’ perfectly blends metal and rock for nearly seven minutes, the band pleasing the ears of metal and rock fans. Also, it’s an instrumental – the second one featured on the album, both of them not losing any interest whatsoever! I’ve found that some instrumentals can be a little bit boring, inviting me to skip to the next song – but not in the case of the two on offer here, both of them keeping me hooked all the way through! Bringing the album to a close, ‘Game Over’ is an energetic and explosive gallop of fast-paced punk-edged heavy metal, the band maintaining an unbroken level of intensity.
Overall, a hard-hitting and punchy gallop of thrash-tinged heavy metal, one hundred percent infectious and totally head bang-able.
TRACKLIST
The Broken Son
Kingdom Come
Revolution
All Quiet On The Homefront
Over The Razor Fence
Liar
Blue Hour
Salting The Earth
Serpentine
At The End Of The Day
Game Over
Acrolysis: Facebook
Release Year: 2023
Label: self-released
Category: Album
Country: Australia
Reviewed by Iron Mathew for Frenzy Fire and Metal-Roos.
