Akitsa are a renowned Canadian black metal band, who tend to mix black metal, noise rock and punk influences, and who could also be put under the slogan of Quebecois NSBM. Whatever the case may be, Akitsa is definitely one of the best and most original black metal bands of the last half a decade or so. They have released a number of great albums, but perhaps their best album to date has been ''Au crepuscule de l'esperance'' - an album that was released back in 2010, and which immediately caught the eye with boasting some awesome noise rock and psychedelic rock influenced black metal.
The album starts off with a short prelude track ''Crematorium'', but it is ''Les Sentinelles'' that really kicks the album to an appropriate start. ''Les Sentinelles'' packs some fine repetitive drums that propel the fine noise rock influenced repetitive black metal riffage forward, while the great vocals do the rest. The track is highly additive with its almost blackened psych feel. The third track ''Morsure'' leans more into the punk influenced area of Akitsa, while ''Loyaute'' tends to be more of a blackened noise rock track for my ear. ''Loyaute'' also tends to be the best track on this fine album, as it boasts some heavy mid-tempo noise rock/black metal riffage and a highly satisfying solo in the end. Having said this then ''Cercueil National'' also has a similar mid-tempo blackened noise rock riff, and while it is also a great track, then it is not as good as ''Loyaute''. The following title track starts off with a noisy distortion laden intro, and continues on a path of some drone infused black metal from start to finish. Thus making for a fascinating experimental piece, that boasts an eerie atmosphere from start to finish. The seventh track on the album is ''Le dernier putsch'', which offers a more conventional black metal approach, while still boasting a repetitive drum section similar to ''Les Sentinelles''. Whatever the case may be, ''Le dernier putsch'' is definitely the second best track on the album in my opinion. The following track ''Antithese'' again moves towards more of a punk/noise rock approach, with the penultimate ''Vers la mort'' upping the tempo a bit. ''La voix brutale'' is a track that ends the album, and it works well as such. The track packs some fine distortion laden black metal riffage and a repetitive drums section, with the vocals working well throughout as well.
All in all ''Au crepuscule de l'esperance'' is definitely one of the best Akitsa albums, and one of the best black metal releases of the last decade or so. The album is novel in its mixture of black metal, noise rock, psychedelia and punk rock elements into a highly efficient concoction.
Some related links:
Album on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4ncw6eDfPA
