Review: Akercocke, Fleece

“I’ve just come!” bellows an over-enthusiastic (male) punter, a tad prematurely, just a couple of songs in to Akercocke’s set.

“Don’t peak too early,” cautions Jason Mendonca, with a smirk.

Outside the Fleece, an ambulance has already pulled up to collect a casualty retrieved from support band The King Is Blind’s moshpit. It’s an early bath with no Satan for him. Yep, the unexpected return after a five-year absence of Lucifer-bothering progressive black metal quartet (plus additional touring keyboard player) Akercocke has certainly provoked scenes akin to demonic possession among the eager hordes in thrall to their infernal musical magick.

They’ve made some sartorial changes since we last saw them, which is a bit of a shame as Akercocke’s whole entertaining shtick was to appear as though they’d just put down their pipes and sallied forth from the Hellfire Club to deliver a set of blistering black metal before returning to continue a discussion about the arcane detail of Crowleyian invocation over a glass of vintage red and a rough shag. Gone are the tweed smoking jackets and ties, along with most of the hair, although, spookily, guitarist Paul Scanlan looks much the same as ever. Mendonca even whips off his shirt early in the set, which would have been unthinkable during the band’s earlier, more gentlemanly incarnation.

Black metal has evolved in their absence, and not always in a good way (witness the alarming advent of Hipster Black Metal, for example, though mercifully there’s no sign of the beard-oiling brigade here tonight), and the temptation must have been to rein in the trademark musical adventurousness in favour of pure bludgeon in order to demonstrate that these old buggers can still see off the whippersnappers at their heels. Thankfully, they resisted it.

Becoming the Adversary is an early highlight, showcasing Mendonca’s impressive range of vocal styles, from bowel-loosening growl to sonorous baritone, as well as his largely unheralded shredding skills and the entire band’s impressive command of melody and dark atmospherics within an extreme metal framework. Erotic gothic lament Marguerite & Gretchen pushes the boat out further, with extensive clean vocals and a phenomenal performance by drummer David Gray, whose sonic palette ranges from jazz to blast beats.

It’s perhaps too much to hope that they’ll attempt Axiom, but on first hearing epic new song Disappear sounds like a seamless continuation and development of that trademark blend of progginess and extremity. The Dark Inside makes an unexpected if welcome return to the set, and of course they can’t get away without performing Leviathan, which provokes a moshpit frenzy that would surely warm the cold, dark heart of the Horned One himself.

Read more: Metal & Prog Picks: October 2016