ARRGH!! BLACK FUCKING METAL! This two-piece black metal outfit from Quebec has managed to distill the essence of dark, obscure melodies and total misanthropy into 56 minutes of pure blackness. This is music on the level of something by The Black Legions or early Darkthrone, but original enough because of the use of ANYTHING for that bleak atmosphere: Darkthrone-type minimalist repetition, acoustic guitar, monotone clean vocals, Black Legions-type fast-strummed melodies. There's almost no rhyme or reason to the musical approaches Akitsa takes in creating black metal. This is fucking great stuff - pure blackness that I can't recommend high enough. Bands like this prove all the 'black metal is dead' naysayers wrong with a fist in the face. Word is they've gotten even MORE misanthropic and violent on the upcoming split with Song of Melkor. More details as they come....

A note on this release - the original "Totale Servitude" was a cassette demo/rehearsal limited to 100 copies. The version I am reviewing is the CDR version available from Finland's AFP, which contains most (but not all) of the tracks from the cassette version plus five new tracks recorded after the first release.

Band website - http://akitsa.cjb.net/ or http://www.mp3.com/akitsa/
AFP - http://www.teli.stadia.fi/~jniemi/

© 2001 lord vic