Having been making waves on the underground scene in their local scene in Portsmouth, Seething Akira have been quietly growing, playing shows and making some important friends along the way. Now, the time has come to release their debut album and the time could not be more perfect. With Enter Shikari and the returning Pendulum making waves in the dance-led rock scene and pioneers The Prodigy slowing down, as well as the band having scored a supporting slot with the returning Pitchshifter, now is the perfect time for Seething Akira to release their debut album. Does it hold up to the above bands breakthrough sound though?
They certainly put in a good effort to do so. The album comes flying out the traps with the double header of ‘The Monster From Brussels’ straight into ‘Matching Poles Of Magnets’, with both tracks showing the diversity of music that Seething Akira can write. The comparisons to The Prodigy will always exist here, especially with vocalist Kit Conrad clearly being a student of Keith Flint’s style but this band offer so much more in their sound, with the mix of metal and dance being blended almost perfectly, especially on the former where the band show they know how to write a chorus like the best of them.
The bands creativity in songwriting is further shown on the following track ‘Half Empty’ where the band show a more relaxed approach with the synth used to create a much more atmospheric sound before the previously released and lead single ‘I Am The Devil’ attacks the listener with a sound reminiscent to the best of Pendulum tracks from years gone by.
Guest appearances from scene shares The Qemists as well as from singer-songwriter Dani Uziel on the tracks ‘Backlash’ and ‘Even Angels Break Hearts’ over different flavours to the album and continue to show the talent of all the songwriters involved before the album closes with ‘The Islander’, providing the perfect end to the album with the mellowing music contrasting from Conrad’s aggressive Beastie Boys style delivery to show exactly what this band have the potential to do.
This album is a statement of intent, what is more exciting however is how far Seething Akira can take this concept. The songwriting talent in the band and the diversity it allows means that the sky is the limit for this band. Keep your eyes open people, Seething Akira are coming.
Album Rating: 8/10
Listen To: The Islander