Imagine being able to peer into an underground room with some of pretty bad recording equipment, and a few guys who want to creative very raw and anti-human black metal. Akitsa are that band and Goetie is an album that is about twenty years archaic, though the lo-fi black metal sound is a fifty/fifty wager on either being incredibly atmospheric or downright abysmal. Though there are moments where the production hampers the experience, Goetie is one of the better examples of underground black metal where atmosphere trumps the choice production. Though it may either take ears accustomed to the sounds of Haine et Vengeance, or repeated listens to understand Goetie the album is a voyage into the murky realms of underground black metal.

After the cleaner intro of Ouverture de Le’Esprit with its deceptively calm tremolo picking, the bedlam ensues and you finally experience the coldness of Akitsa’s music. The main riff is simple and changes very little while O.T screeches and screams his lungs up, and there are even some Pest-esque cleaner chants in the song. It’s a wonderful five minutes of a Transilvanian Hunger-esque guitar line and some very demonic vocals, though the following track fits more into the ritualistic black metal vibe Les Opposants Bruleront and doesn’t do too much for me. It has a decent wandering melody towards the middle of the song, but is pretty monotonous and the vocals remind me too much of Striborg.

The vocals are my favorite instrument on the album whether he’s screaming like a banshee, imitating Pest’s cleaner vocal abilities, or his tortured rasp in Revanche. The song itself is a mid-tempo almost rock sounding repetitive main riff, and it’s a decent song that stretches onwards opening for the dystopian Les Ruines de la modernite. Where the riffing doesn’t need to be explained without going into subjective examples Les Ruines de la modernite, is another one of the incredibly atmospheric ventures with an eerie main riff and cymbal work that sounds mechanical. It’s as the song echoes a posthumous recollection of mankind’s passing, as the listener wanders through the remains of a destroyed megalopolis as the embers rise.

I was never too partial with Affont Final as its another one of the rock-esque tracks, though there is somewhat of an “uplifting” solo towards the end. The album as an experience could do better without Les Opposants Bruleront and Affront Final, as the guitarist composes some decent ambient riffing in Hierarchie. Hierarchie doesn’t do much for me as it just kind of veers along some ambient riffing and as always screeching vocals, the vocals really epitomize the tortured atmosphere of the album even as much as the riffing. Pendaison De L’ Humanitie has his performance at its most demonic with constant shrieking a chainsaw riff echoing in the background, and constant china symbal smashes that sound like a demonic serenade.

Counting some haunting riffs and very demonic vocals Goetie is the an excellent addition to an underground bm fanatic’s collection. If you can get past the production which isn’t all that bad to begin with, you have some very atmospheric and evil sounding music. Chances are you wont be able to find the original pressing, but from what I understand this album was reissued a while back.