AKPHAEZYA — Anthology II : Links from the Dead Trinity (review)

AKPHAEZYA — Anthology II : Links from the Dead Trinity album cover

Album · 2008 · Avant-garde Metal

5/5 · 2015-09-21
adg211288

Anthology II: Links from the Dead Trinity (2008) is the debut full-length album by French avant-garde metal act Akphaezya. The album is a total re-recording of the band's 2004 demo of the same name. In an apparent attempt to be avant-garde in ways beyond the musical the album is a part of a conceptual series, the second part, as the title implies. The group followed the album up with the fourth part, Anthology IV: The Tragedy of Nerak (2012). A total of five parts are planned and at the time of writing the first, third and fifth parts have yet to appear. It's unknown at this point which one will appear next.

The music on Links from the Dead Trinity is primarily avant-garde metal with a strong jazz influence being of particular note. The direction of the music hops around a fair bit from the strange to the more straight-forward and direct, using both metal and non-metal sections to great effect. I'm reminded of the perhaps better known and now defunct band Unexpect, but I find Akphaezya's music to be a little more reined in and focussed, which I find to be a great benefit to my enjoyment of the album. And musically there's a lot to enjoy on Links from the Dead Trinity. Heavy guitar riffs mesh well with dominate piano use and bouts of weirdness give the music a quirky side, without falling into the rather cliché so called circus metal fare than is often heard in progressive and avant-garde acts. The non-metal sections of the album are just as strong as the heaviest material, in fact Beyond the Sky is probably one of my favourite acoustic guitar pieces ever written.

But as impressive as the music is, and it is damn impressive, the real star of this album for me is the vocalist (who is also the keyboardist), Nehl Aëlin. The band has a really diverse vocalist here, who compliments the music perfectly with her style flitting about in much the same way as the instrumentation. Sometimes direct and with a rather normal sounding (and a very good) singing voice, at other times crazy and quirky as hell and then...well...she also happens to have one of the most intense and brutal death growl's I've ever heard, especially from a female vocalist. She uses such vocals sparingly, this maximising their effect when they do appear, though there are heard as early as the first proper song on the album, Chrysalis. The point where her growls really take the centre stage though is during The Golden Vortex of Kaltaz, the heaviest and most in your face metal song on the album. Nehl Aëlin is pure gold in vocalist form. Thinking about it, even though there are a lot more obvious choices out there, especially in symphonic and power metal bands, she's probably my favourite female metal vocalist. I can't actually think of another female singer who consistently wows me the same way Nehl Aëlin does.

Links from the Dead Trinity easily ranks among my very favourite albums of all time; one of those rare releases that I can listen to at any time and enjoy just as much even though I know the album pretty much by heart now. It's that good. 5 stars and would give it 6 if I could.

more than 2 years ago
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siLLy puPPy wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Drat! You're right, Adam. I was lied to :( maybe some archival tracks will be released from unexpect

UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I actually have both albums lying around, but I´ve only given this one a listen one time years back. Like Mike I remember it as a tamer version of Unexpect, but maybe my perception have changed. I´ll give it a listen at some point Again.

adg211288 wrote:

more than 2 years ago

That was last year. Things have changed: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10153376312567025&id=238413107024

siLLy puPPy wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Great review! I have the one after this but haven't yet heard this one. Hoping it's better. The next album reminds me of a tamer Unexpect and BTW when i ordered a CD from them directly last year caotH assured me that they are not defunct but rather taking sweet ass time, so don't give up on em :)