Archon - Altoria

Archon

Altoria

by Djenty Djessica Schiefelbein at 17 June 2021, 9:13 PM

ARCHON is a Danish quartet that are presenting their EP, “Altoria.” ARCHON blend Metalcore with elements of other styles to create a sound that is heavy, grinding, brutal, smooth, and elegant all rolled into one.

The album opens on a strong note: the bass line is nice and heavy; the drums are energetic. Sofus Nielsen has a great vocal range and delivers steady power. Best of all, straight off the bat the guitar has me nodding along. That’s definitely a good sign!

“Dark Grounds” is a heavy hitting track that will have any Metalhead headbanging along. The band works perfectly together; I have to crank up my volume because this stuff slaps! I’m loving how Kresten Maigaard Axelsen is playing on this track and we get some more spectacular vocals.

As I’m riding through this album I can’t help but feel like I’m not quite hearing all the music. I feel like so many of the tones are missing. Overall the whole sound is just sort of flat. I don’t feel like it’s anything the band is doing. I’m absolutely enjoying what I’m hearing musically. It’s something else. Everything sounds so restricted, I’m craving both deeper and higher tones.

By the time the album closes on “Purgatory” I’m in love. The band has managed to maintain steady energy without falling into the all too common trope where all the songs sound the same. I’ve got to have this album in my own collection, because I NEED to headbang to this while I do 75 on the freeway. But I have to investigate who produced this album, because I can’t help but feel like the producer did this band quite a bit of a disservice. Chris Kreutzfeldt I find was the producer. What happened, man? I can’t help but feel like there’s a whole range of tones that are missing from this album, and it’s a real disappointment because this band is seriously talented!

Overall, even despite the fact that it sounds a little high and tight throughout the album, sort of like it was mixed to be played through a phone speaker, I still love it. It’s good music from clearly talented people. My only wish is that someone will read this and invest in ARCHON so they can hire a better producer with better equipment maybe? Either way, give them money because they rock super hard!

Songwriting: 7
Musicianship: 7
Memorability: 7
Production: 4