I love French Black Metal, period. I remember being at Music Fear Satan, off Voltaire Blvd in Paris debating it. The majority of Black Metal from France is unapologetic, to the absolute point and most importantly, focussed! I love such music where the band has a singular focus towards the message, music and execution. ACOD falls into the same category. The excellent ACOD, a Black / Death metal band from Marseille, France return with their brand new full length “Versets Noirs” through Hammerheart Records. ACOD has everything in the right mixture on “Versets Noirs”. The album spiritually speaks of a sorority of witches finding the one in the afterlife which is great but can we get to the brilliant, insanely focussed songwriting on this album? Couple the excellent songwriting with phenomenal production and ACOD will ensure they will drown you into their magic. The opening track ‘Habentis Maleficia’ is nearly twenty and a half minutes long but ACOD approach this with such ingenuity that 20 minutes seem to breeze right past you. ACOD starts off capturing the chanting by the witches, they build up a visual image of a dark forest just before the winter. The music, albeit melodic slowly ingests heaviness through brilliant musicianship and mixing! ACOD seems to capture every step taken as part of the journey through their rhythm and they do it so delightfully that you’re clawed into the journey. You’re greeted with traditional Black Metal vocals mixed with soothing synth driven heaviness that edges on darkness. ACOD has struck such a fine balance in their delivery of Black / Death Metal that everything the band does together sounds incredibly in-sync. Phenomenal background operatic vocals are added time and again into the mix to enrich the experience of the journey. The band sometimes breaks down the song into bare elements that seem to capture the burden of thought at that very moment, some passages sound so in-tune with nature that you almost feel like a gentle touch of spring on your shoulder! And there are multiple such passages which just fit into the overall picture like pieces of a puzzle. As they do it one note at a time, ACOD eventually transitions into the keyboard rich wall of sound where all you can do is sit back and enjoy the assault. I often talk about musicianship, execution and vision, ACOD brings it all together on their sixth full length. What is key is that they add a purpose to their ritual and that makes all the difference. Truth be told, nothing of what ACOD does is brand new or ground breaking, it is the how of what they do that keeps it all together. I am delighted to have spent some time with the album and can safely tell you that if you’re fan of any sub-genre of Metal music, you need to listen to this devoid of any prejudice. The band released an absolutely amazing video for track # 2, ‘The Son Of A God (The Heir Of Divine Blood)’ which could be an amazing starting point. Give it a listen and head right to their pages to get a copy of this release for yourself. I would love to see the band on stage, because this music needs to be experienced in a live setting amongst other enthusiasts. A huge shout out to ACOD for covering SAMAEL’s ‘Black Trip’, I can recollect SAMAEL’s “Live In Moscow” video just as I typed that. ACOD have not only covered the master’s song, they’ve done it whilst kneeling in prayer and they’ve absolutely slayed it! For more information, please visit www.facebook.com/acodband, www.facebook.com/hammerheartrecords