Ahkmed - "Distance"
(Elektrohasch Schallplatten EH-130 2009)
Ahkmed - "Distance"
(Elektrohasch Schallplatten EH-130 2009)
From Aural Innovations July 2009 update
John-Paul, Carlo and Dan comprise this Australian trio that play super-heavy, Mogwai-esque 10-minute slabs of guitar-based plod. "Plod"... is it the good kind or the other? It's your call. (Mogwai have had moments of brilliance, but many of their songs bore the bejeesus out of me too). The chords that these guys prefer will definitely appeal to certain folks... are they minor chords? I'm not educated enough to know, but there's certainly a depressive quality, while to others they might make a good soundtrack to a ride through the desert on camelback. They do lots of quiet passages that interlude the heavy bits. It's safe to assume that the guitarist feeds his riffs through the number of fx pedals - delay, reverb, etc, it's definitely a solid wall of sound that's created, yet still not the most original-sounding. The drummer and bassist are... well, a solid heavy-ass rhythm section. Midway through "Saltwater", Carlo starts playing a really pretty lead riff, but too soon lurches back into the main power-chords. Here and there he conjures up some Jimmy Page-ish quivery wah-lead sounds, like what you hear at the beginning of "How Many More Times". There are sparse spoken-word passages, like musical oases amidst the austerity of the jams. I like the quiet bit during "Iemanja", really nice cosmic sound... but again, brief. Intro of the title-track they phase some freaky chorus-noise into the atmosphere. These guys are good players and Carlo is capable of producing some pleasantly crisp tones amongst the overall morass of "guitexture". I'd like to hear them broaden their scope a bit.
For more information you can visit the Ahkmed web site at: http://www.myspace.com/ahkmedband
Email at: ahkmedband@gmail.com
Visit the Elektrohasch Records web site at: http://www.elektrohasch.de
Reviewed by Chuck Rosenberg