ACROSTICHON

Which right-minded old death metaller doesn’t know them, the gentlemen and lady of Acrostichon from the Netherlands? Started in 1986 as a pack of young wolves to split up as a mature Arostichon in 1995. The vocals, that made many a male grunter jealous, where delivered by the lovely Corinne van den Brand, who also played bass. Almost everyone is always on about Angela Gossow, but she sounds like a tame kitten compared to Corinne. Corinne’s vocals were the real deal and not a marketing trick like those in Arch Enemy.

After an inactive period of about fourteen years the band reunited for what was supposed to be a one-off show at Mario’s Metal Mania on October 4 2009. In the meantime the band has performed once again, last April 1st, so who knows they still got in store for us. Anyway, the 2009 reunion show now sees the light of day thanks to Badger Records who have released it on vinyl (50 copies on clear white vinyl and 250 on black vinyl). We’re dealing with a double album adorned with some great colourful artwork courtesy of band member Richard Schouten and the inside of the gatefold cover features a great old school photo collage. The gig of that October 9th, 2009 is spread over the first three sides of the album. Side four features the 1990 ‘Prologue’ demo. Both the reunion gig recordings and those of the demo are of high quality. Live such classics as ‘Lost Remembrance’ and ‘Dehumanized’ aren’t forgotten. This album is a must have for anyone who loves Dutch death metal or old school death metal in general.