KAT'S BAND OF THE WEEK - ACROSTICHON (HOLLAND)

There is so much great music out there, both past and present, my blog mostly features newer bands, but I have already featured some older bands who I feel never got the attention they deserve, so have tried to put that right by making Acrostichon from Holland my band of the week. This band have a cult following in the death metal underground and have been around since 1989.

My first introduction was way back in 1992 via the 'Peaceville Vol 4' compilation when I was a spotty 15-year-old death metal newbie, just starting to discover a lot of bands via various compilations, tape-trading etc and that song made an impression on me. I later got hold of their debut album 'Engraved In Black' via a friend on original cassette tape and I consider this album to be an underrated forgotten gem of the early 1990s.

The band's profile in the UK was no where near as high as fellow Dutch bands such as Pestilence, Gorefest and Sinister, which I think is a real shame as their debut album is up there with the best exports that country has produced.

This album was a heavy, doom-infused, death metal beast filled with a good mix of tempos. It made for a very dynamic album, plenty of Autopsy, Trouble and Sabbath style slow, doomy parts fused with more furiously-paced death metal, as well as plenty of crushing mid-paced sections,  topped off with the impressive brutal deep throated growls of Corinne Van Den Brand who was one of the only significant female death metal vocalists of that time. The album's initial release (on Modern Primitive) was delayed, meaning the band were left lingering in the shadows whilst their peers were having albums released to critical acclaim and enjoying worldwide success .

The band followed up the debut with a more thrashy 'Sentenced', which never quite captured the same spark that 'Engraved In Black' managed to ignite and a little while later Corinne left, line-ups changed and the band mutated into a complete different entity altogether called Outburst. A little while ago Acrostichon became active again and started gigging, so I decided I would send some questions to Corinne and Richard and here is what they had to say:

Please give the readers a brief background history on the band and who currently plays what?

Corinne: “We started out in 1989 with Richard and Jos (guitar), Vincent (drums) and myself on vocals and a few months later also on bass. [After some lineup changes] we recorded two demos that did very well, resulting in 'Engraved In Black'. Richard left the band and we recorded an EP called 'Forgotten' and the second full-length, 'Sentenced'. Acrostichon split up in 1997, but we re-united in 2009 with Richard, Jos, Serge (on drums) and myself.”

Richard: “I left the band in '94 because of musical differences. I was more into old school stuff and especially doom. As the band progressed it changed into thrash, a style I wasn’t that fond of so I decided to focus my attention on my doom metal band Black Melody (later to become Robotmonster).”

Your debut album never got the same recognition as albums by Pestilence, Gorefest, even Asphyx. What are your thoughts on this album looking back?

Corinne: “I still like the album although I would do things different now but it's always strange to listen to yourself. I'm very critical, I could do better now than I did back then. The record company fucked up our release date. It was released a year after we recorded it and by then bands like Gorefest had their albums released months earlier so we completely missed the boat.”

Richard: “Colin Richardson did a great job with the production, resulting in an album that still doesn’t sound dated. The only thing I would have done different now is the tuning. We were always tuned in B and since the album was recorded in C# it didn’t fully represent the band’s live sound, which was much more extreme.”

Are there any plans for it to get the reissue treatment?

Corinne: “Oh yes, Memento Mori will re-release 'Engraved In Black' with a lot of extras and Badger records will release a double vinyl with our complete reunion gig, the 'Prologue' demo and tracks never released.”

When did you decide to resurrect the corpse of Acrostichon?

Corinne: “We did a lot of gigs but the spirit was gone after ['Sentenced'] due to shit happening in my personal life. They decided they were better off without me and I was replaced by Tjerk. They decided to change their name into Outburst and became a thrash metal band. They still exist. But a friend of ours organised a festival and asked us if we were interested. And we all were so we rejoined and it was so much fun again. We picked it up very quickly and were louder than ever!! We are a team again.”

Is there a new album in the pipeline?

Corinne: “We did a few gigs but we only play occasionally. We don't want to play every week again. We want to keep it special . We are not writing new songs. Everybody wants to hear the old stuff anyway and those songs still work. They are not outdated at all.”

What are your thoughts on both the current Dutch and worldwide death metal scene?

Corrine: “There is a revival of the old bands. The more obscure, the better it seems. New bands are struggling to get attention. The scene is still good though. Death metal is still alive and kicking over here.”

Any new local bands that have got you excited?

Corinne: “My personal favorite is Fuelblooded, more technical death/thrash with a very good vocalist. There are a lot of good musicians in my area. It seems the youth are playing there instruments much better than in the old days. I think the first thing a drummer learns is a good blastbeat or something.”

Richard: “I think most of the new bands lean too much on technique. They’re missing some of the hardcore/punkrock vibe that made the late 80s/early 90s bands stand out.”

Back when Acrostichon first became active there wasn't too many females playing in extreme death/black metal type bands, what are your thoughts on women becoming more prominent in such a male dominated scene as musicians?

Corinne: “There are a lot of good female musicians nowadays. I don't think that's strange at all. My only concern is that some of them are selected by their looks instead of their skills but hey…if it works, it works.”

Do you think females are finally getting more equality within the extreme music scene? What was it like being a female playing in a band in the early 90s male dominated death metal scene?

Corinne: “I often got that question of course but I never gave it a second thought. I always was a bit of a tomboy anyway. I was accepted by my male colleagues right away. I got along with everybody and I never played out my femininity. I always was one of the boys.”