AKRASIA, coming from Hungary, was first formed in 2017 and released a demo in 2018. They weren't so set on their demo and they felt that it wasn't what they wanted to truly share with the death and thrash metal world. So they really got their act together and released their new album "Act of Will" which graced our metal life on January 29, 2022. This is the first time I hear of this band so I really didn't know what to expect. Instrumental wise every track on this album is filled with energy, melodies, intense riffs and the right amount of thrash and death metal elements. Vocally, it's a bit questionable. As I mentioned in one of my other reviews, I am very picky about vocals. Marci is great for the harmony singing in most tracks but the grunting is a bit difficult to love. Nonetheless, there are a few tracks that really grabbed my soul.

"Sterile Gods", track number four, is the first song that really grabbed my attention. It starts with a powerful guitar riff. It's almost hypnotizing and I actually got an oriental vibe from it. It works up to a speed metal guitar tune with drums giving that moment to start headbanging. Pretty sure if I continued I would've gotten a bit of whiplash. Marci's growling and grunting suits this particular song. It's explosive and angry with the right amount of guitar solos. The longest track on "Act of Will" is also one of my favorites. Standing at 8 minutes and 50 seconds long, "Aftermath" really shows the band's potential. The song gives all the right emotions it should give rage, sadness, power and regret. The track is explosive and melodic with an intense guitar solo as an ending.

"The Cosmonaut" was a breath of fresh air to listen to. It's a beautiful interlude of calming guitar playing, in which closing the eyes takes you off on a long journey. A journey where there is no end. I would've loved for this track to be longer. It really tickled my love of instrumental melodies. I always love to save the best for last, and ironically it is also the last track on the album, "The Last Serenade". It is a legendary and epic song. I love that this song also starts off with a gorgeous acoustic guitar riff. It gave me an AVENGED SEVENFOLD vibe. I must say that the fact that is solely another only instrumental track makes me love the song even more. It definitely serenaded me.

I believe AKRASIA has a lot of potential to grow, perhaps if they focus more on the harmonic and clean vocal side of death metal and less on the grunts and growls. It might sound very contradicting at first but their last track really shows how skilled they are as musicians. I am looking forward to seeing what they will come up with next. They definitely need more recognition in the metal world!