Elan Vital is the debut album of Anchillys, a one-man project by Andy Wit. There aren’t that many artists that are talented enough to create and record an entire album on their own, but Andy has certainly managed to do exceptionally well. Judging by the more than 1000 streams the album has got allready in the first week after the release, the metal community agrees. Anchillys is a project to watch. Andy took his time creating his debut: apperantly he spent the past 10 years in a bunker trying to come up with brutal riffs and groweling lyrics. However he did it, it is an impressive feat.
Dark and heavy
I didn’t know what to expect when listening to this album, but Birth seems to be a good introduction to what Anchillys has in store for us. The album is filled with complex guitar and bass riffs complementing eachother, layered with some brutal drum riffs. Birth really is just an intro to the album, which really kicks of with Dirt & Essence.
I’d be curious to know what drove Andy to write the lyrics for Elan Vital, since the lyrics are really dark and heavy. Of course in the past few years the world did get fucked up even more, so the lyrics seem to fit well. It seems most lyrics describe how bad the human race has become, there is a lot of anger and frustration seeping through. An example:
This world ain’t done as a coherence of contingency and conspiracy, world of treachery
Cover up our hatred, call it ignorance and irony of men
Technical brutality
Anyway, the heavy lyrics are of course a perfect fit to the heavy brutal riffs. It really reminds me of Necrophagist but that might also be because I don’t have that much reference bands in my personal playlists. Necrophagist being one of my favorite bands though, Anchillys fits right in. Dirt & Essence reminded me a lot of ‘Mutilate the Stillborn’ with a kind of similar melodic riff (although the riff at 1.50 is more similar to Foulbody Autopsy. Let’s say I hear the inspiration).
There are enough breaks, breakdowns and ‘weirdness’ going on to make it a proper technical death album, and enough heavy headbang riffs to please the oldschool and brutal death fans as well. The album is a nice mix of up-tempo tracks and more groovy riffs. The title track to the album Elan Vital, is actually my least favorite track of the album, probably because of the latter.
Gate of Hades starts with a lot of technical tapping only to be followed by, of course, more tapping and some ridiculous drumsparts. And if you wonder if Andy played the drums as well, there is a playthrough video of ‘Sands of Genitalia’ (such a lovely title) which shows he is actually able to play all that craziness. Blastbeat galore for sure. Oh, and be on the lookout for the almost Mario-dungeon-level – kinda bassriff halfway through Somniphobic because that is a great riff too.
The album ends with Khamsin’s Menace, which is probably the most epic track. It flows really well and I imagine this being a crowdpleaser if these tracks will every be played live (can they, please?). The track builds towards an epic wall of sound (and of course tapping solo’s) and it’s probaby not really there, but it sounds like his cat joining in for that epic bridge as well (check from 3.49 and further 🙂 ). The ending to this track is also the perfect ending to the album: low, spacy bass sounds, to end with a really creepy vibe.
Verdict
This would be a great debut album for any band, but the fact that only ONE person created this whole thing (and recorded it) is even more impressive. My favorite track is either Dirt & Essence or Gate of Hades, but the ending of Khamsin’s Menace is definately the reason to listen to the whole album. I can’t wait what Anchillys comes up with next!
Tracklisting
- Birth
- Dirt & Essence
- Elan Vital
- Extramundane
- Gate of Hades
- Somniphobic
- Sands of Genitalia
- Khamsin’s Menace
