🎶 Acid Death
🌎 Athens, Greece
📀 Evolution
® 7Hard
📅 21/11/2025
The legendary Greek Death/Prog band returns in discography six years after “Primal Energies” with their new album, “Evolution.” A title that probably has a double meaning, since on the one hand it describes in a way the theme of the album, which is related to the evolution of humanity and on the other hand it prepares the listener to discover the musical evolution of the band itself and its sound. In fact, we were among the lucky few who got to hear the album first at a prelistening session at the legendary Sierra Studios (see related article here).
The album consists of eight songs plus four introductory/transitional tracks. So, after “Singularity” gets us in the mood with a dialogue between man and AI, the first bomb drops with “Coded Dominion” which reveals a different “dialogue.” This one is between Progressive Melodicism and Extreme dynamism with very distinctive guitar solos standing out. The song is about the prevalence of artificial intelligence, and the band musically expresses its concern about whether humans use AI or if the opposite is true. “Rise Of Salvation” deals with the evolution of religions over the centuries as reflected in various rituals, magic or organized religion today. In this song, the emphasis is on the destructive drums, creating an addictive beat. The theme of death and birth preoccupies the next two songs. In “Genesis” we hear the cry of a newborn baby and the gentle lullaby of its mother and “Flesh Dancing in the Fires” with its epic sound and somewhat retro guitars describes the dance between life and death that all humans engage in every day of their lives.
The next song is, let’s say, the hit of the album, mainly because of the important guests. In “The Gateway to Knowledge”, Kelly Shaefer of ATHEIST on vocals and James Murphy (among others, DEATH, OBITUARY, TESTAMENT) on lead guitars create an old school death metal gem with tempo changes, a dark atmosphere, and amazing solos. The lyrics describe the two opposite ends of spiritual evolution, ignorance and knowledge, and the role they play in the course of humanity. A humanity characterized by destructive, or rather self-destructive, mania while nobody can predict what kind of world may emerge from the rubble. After creating a sense of panic with “Humanity”, ACID DEATH attempts to give their own version through “Shadows of our Despair”. As expected from the first couple of seconds, the song grabs you by the throat with its in-your-face logic, excellent guitars, relentless drumming and melodic passage dominated by clean vocals. But after the collapse, what remains? Companionship and solidarity prevail in a world undergoing rebirth, and this is perfectly captured in the mid-tempo “Fallen Empires”. In “Babel”, we find ourselves among incessant speeches and cries until someone puts an end to it all, bringing us to “(Walking) The Path to Certainty” with its melancholic tone that speaks of progress controlled by the powerful elite. An interesting touch is the spoken word sections that enhance the dark atmosphere of the song and enhance the more modern, progressive aesthetic. However, all this is abruptly interrupted by yet another old school anthem at the end of the album, as if ACID DEATH wants to remind us of their roots and where this 36-year-old story began. “Forging the Chains” talks about the insecurity and decay of the present day and is characterized by relentless drumming that brings to the surface all the rage that any thinking citizen of this world might feel.
Savvas Betinis and his band can feel confident that they have achieved their goal. They honor their roots without clinging to the past, they dare, they experiment and they create an album that is lyrically and musically up to date. The impression I got both from meeting the musicians and listening to the album is that ACID DEATH work freely and let inspiration guide them without constraints or limitations, the best recipe for success.
★ 8,5/10
✍🏻 Kostas Boudoukos
