Acrania – An Uncertain Collision

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Review by Paul Castles

It’s fair to say that Acrania are one of the more puzzling metal acts I’ve come across. The Mexican metal scene has one or two shining lights but having struggled with An Uncertain Collision I can’t honestly say that Acrania are among them. Opening track ‘Treason Politics & Death’ appeared to start up in a fairly heavy style with some good thrash rhythms but when the trumpet kicked in towards the end I almost choked on my tortillas. Named after the unfortunate fatal skull condition that some newborn babies have, Acrania are an unconventional bunch playing a kind of energetic rock interspersed with strong percussion elements and sporadic death metal growls. An Uncertain Collision’s third track ‘Now’ opens with what sounds like some pretty lively bongo blasts before the banditos launch into a sprightly bossanova beat.

This is Acrania’s second album and while they did make a brief trip to Germany last year my feeling is that most traditional European metal crowds would find this spicy Mexican delicacy difficult to digest. The Latin jazz feel is fairly incongruous with trumpets and sax giving the rhythm plenty of swing but the death metal growls really just get swallowed up in the heady mix. ‘But Not Today’ opens with a bark but again the vocals are lost in a stop-start salsa slab that just fails to make any impression other than a poor one. When most of us think of a horn, it’s usually the devil’s horn hands not a trumpet solo against a backdrop of chaotic South American sounds. For those with a more open mind willing to engage with something completely different, charged with technical complexity, and throbbing with a Latino pulse, then yep Acrania may just leave their mark on you. For this humble listener it was simply too off the wall to handle. If I want gunslingers from Mexico I’ll switch on a rerun of The Alamo.

Acrania – An Uncertain Collision3 out of 10

Tracklisting:

  1. Treason, Politics & Death
  2. Deceive the Pain
  3. Now
  4. A Praise to Madness
  5. Revolution & Tequila
  6. But Not Today
  7. Speartooth
  8. Vallarta night
  9. In My land