Acacia – Tills döden skiljer oss åt (2013)

Just when you think you have almost heard everything under the sun, it comes a truly moving release like Acacia’s debut full-length “Tills döden skiljer oss åt”. Melancholic and depressive are adjectives that barely start to describe the mood and atmosphere of this soul (and spirit) crushing album. Formed originally under the name of Livsnekad, this Swedish outfit manages to deliver 61 minutes of truly moving music that we will do our best to try to do justice while describing.

The solemn piano opening of “Död mans mask” really builds anticipation and once the clean vocals come on, the mood suddenly gets even darker. As “Förnimmelsens lund af längtan” opens, the riffs remind us a bit of bands like Draconian and Desire with a certain atmospheric touch of My Dying Bride. Being huge fans of Death/Doom Metal, the growls are up to par to any of the heavy hitters of the scene, a very important element to contrast the atmosphere of the music. The Black Metal influences kick in and elevate the music to a whole new level, featuring extremely contrasting brutality with a highly atmospheric content. As the song winds down, we get some nice Post-Rock/Depressive Rock final minutes that serve as a relaxing culmination to this excellent track.

Clocking in at 17-minutes and filled with turmoil and lush atmospheric passages, “Amourens redoxreaktion” is our favorite track in this release. The mood swings of this track are amazing, giving us some passages that are straight up Death/Doom classics to more BM infused sections. The clean vocal duets of Moa Thorén and Ulf Nylin are just amazing, particularly when offset by Seiya Ogino’s piano sections. The album starts winding down with “Egocentrisk isolation” a track that has plenty of Post-Rock-ish sections and overall very mellow vibe with the exception of some haunting harsh screams (similar to Elend).

Closing with the album’s title track, the band keeps the musical emotions at an all-time high with killer keyboards and powerful riffs. The drumming thought the whole album is quite skilled and switches perfectly between calm and hype-fast sections. This track showcases some Alcest-like guitars and atmosphere, rounding up a very well balanced and highly diverse release.

Overall, “Tills döden skiljer oss åt” is one of those releases that will stand the test of time and will always be remembered as one of the best in the genre(s) in encompasses. Acacia is one hell of a band featuring members and ex-members of Shinning amongst countless other bands, and we can’t wait to hear what they will produce next. So if you are a fan of bands like Alcest, Draconian, My Dying Bride, and Desire, and you are looking for a highly melancholic release, look no further and get yourself a copy of this release.

Label: Art of Propaganda

Release: July 1st, 2013

Genre: Depressive Metal / Doom/Black / Post-Rock

Country: Sweden