Thinking about Metal from these days that we all are living, I really had the clear idea that Death Metal with all its sub styles is the one with the greater number of bands within it. Every day, we all can hear about a new name arising and coming with a musical work. Of course that not all of them are very good, but some are, as the French quintet A.C.O.D. (please, do not ask me what it means) with their newest work, the album "II The Maelstrom".

Their music is a fine mix of 80% of the a traditional and brutal way on Death Metal, along with 15% from some elements of the old school Gothenburg (a well constructed sound, but without being as melodic as the modern bands from the city), and another 5% from Thrash Metal in some riffs. Well, their music is not the newest thing on the world, but is very good and has a strong and violent personality.

With the production of Shawter, and mixing and master by Damien Rainaud at the Darth Mader Studio, the sound quality of the album is very, very good indeed, being clear and heavy in both ways. So we can say that it's a harsh and violent music, but with a touch of quality. And the cover was done by Brazilian artist Marcelo Vasco, that created a simple art, different from what we are used to see on his works, but is very good as well.

They really have some great songs, and the best ones are "Way of Death" (a brutal and solid song, having extremely tasteful guitar riffs with a complex technique), the oppressive "Ghost Memories" (great vocals duets between Fred and the special guest Björn "Speed" Strid, from SOILWORK, and again, the song has a very good technical approach, with very good rhythmic session), the extreme "Black Wings", the excellent "Unleash the Fools" (here, some melodies are more evident, with some clean voices done by Shawter, from DAGOBA), and "To the Maelstrom" (the music fro the video, a thundering and dynamic song, with fine arrangements). And by the way their lyrics are very good as well, having messages to all that can get the ideas.

Very, very good album, indeed, and the band has a great potential.