When the listener hits that play button, the listener is welcomed to the opening title track, Your Possible Pasts, which opens a book of four stories.
Acherontia Styx‘s opening piece, Your Possible Pasts, which opens to a dark sound of acoustic and slow drum beats, clean vocals, and the telling of the first story. “A telling of a tale about the heartbreaking death of a loved one, drug addiction, and near-death experience, and the constant battle with personal demons ending in a panic attack – before breaking (approx two minutes into the song) into this bleak blackened death-doom sound, that is heavy and crushing, that’s laced with a mechanical groove-laden/Stockholm death metal soundscape.”
Following suit with the second song and story, Fallen focuses on and tells the tale of “Lucifer’s expulsion from the heavens to the fire pits of hell.” Fallen opens with an incantation/summoning that welcomes the listener to a fiery pit of hell brutalization sound, thus leaving the final two songs and stories. Lector is the third song, based on the Thomas Harris character of the same name. Famous for his meticulous nature and fine banquets, the song describes human meat consumption in graphic detail.
Acherontia Styx and their album, Your Possible Pasts, provides the listener with include technical/Swedish old-school death metal, rapid-fire kick drums with guitar riffs reminiscent of industrial metal, slow sections of doom metal, black metal, experimental artists/experimental music. It also includes various tempos/moods.
Acherontia Styx and their album, Your Possible Pasts, comes to an end with the last song and final story, Eyes Of Glass. Maintaining the Thomas Harris influence that inspired our name. Eyes Of Glass aimed to take listeners right inside the head of a fictional serial killer, Francis Dollarhyde, complete with swirling psychosis inspired voices provided by over a dozen guest vocalists from all around the world. Eyes Of Glass features guest vocals from ten additional vocalists into a bouncing whirlwind of hooks and grooves. At the same time, the beautiful fruit of art, Tracy Moore, provides the female operatic voice part and tells the struggle of another of ‘Thomas Harris’ characters, Francis Dolarhyde. It is also a pioneering endeavour by the band to unite musicians worldwide to provide the voices of Dolarhyde, losing his mind to the voices within. He inserts pieces of a broken mirror into the eyes of his victims.
Overall, Acherontia Styx and their album, Your Possible Pasts, has a synonymous signature sound that captures and embraces various elements and influences within its music.
We want to give a shoutout to Acherontia Styx for letting us review their album, Your Possible Pasts. Now, we’re going to wrap it up by talking about the final three sins and concluding the review.
