Akrea are a young melodic death metal band from Germany that released their debut album on Drakkar recently. Formed in 2008, these guys are clearly heavily influenced by bands such as At The Gates, In Flames, Dark Tranquillity and the like. While they may not have the most original sound out there, they do know how to play and write some decent songs, which makes this album enjoyable to listen to, but does not leave you with much to remember.

The intro starts with some piano and then some foreboding, heavy riffs that give me a good feeling about the music. The next track, Imperium, comes in with heavy guitars and thick double bass drumming alongside the growls of vocalist Sebastian "Sebi" Panzer. This is actually the first melodeath band I have heard that writes their lyrics in German, and I have to say it sounds pretty good. Sebi has a good death metal growl that he uses exclusively in this song and the guitar work is also excellent, staying heavy but still incorporating plenty of soaring, melodic parts. Schwarzer Kern shows that the vocalist has quite a raw death metal voice, the guttural German lyrics also add an extra rough quality to the sound of the vocals. The guitars again are top-notch and the drumming is pretty tight as well. Dieser Klang starts out with some slow bass work with the down-tuned guitars and the growls of Sebi. This song actually sounds more like a traditional death metal song with fast, guttural vocals and quicker guitar riffs. The chorus comes in with a bit more melody that makes this song one of the more memorable ones on the album.Rachsucht starts out with some nice acoustic guitar work and then some happier and heavier electric guitar riffs. Later in the album we keep seeing the same things repeated. Tribock comes in with some very heavily distorted guitar and quick drums that lead into one of the faster songs on the album. Again there are some great solos here, but I have to admit it does get tiring at times. Much of the music seems to be centered on highlighting the guitar work, which is admittedly pretty damn good, but these guys just don’t add much else to the music.

Akrea's music is good, but it's probably something you'll listen to once or twice, say "That was good," and then not go back to. Unfortunately this kind of album is becoming all too common in the melodeath arena. Even so I can't fault these guys for playing the kind of music they really enjoy, I just hope they can evolve and mature their sound to the point where it is really interesting and entertaining to listen to. As I said before, their influences are pretty obvious; they clearly worship the trademark melodeath bands such as Dark Tranquillity and In Flames. The only thing that really sets them apart are the German lyrics, other than that I can name ten bands who have done nearly the same album. Ultimately Akrea are a good band, but they lack originality and, most of all, memorable elements in their music. However they are young so hopefully they can push this sound forward and come up with something really great the next time around.