Although Tampa, Florida sextet Akeldama is not that well-known in the metal scene as of now, there is no sense in overlooking the short but sweet metallic splendor they have to showcase in their 2011 digitally-released demo. It contains only three tracks, but each one of them is very enjoyable and distinctive from each other, which is not even the half of why it's such a stellar sampling. The demo, for the most part, consists of "djent" progressive metal highly laden with soaring melodies and electronic effects. The aggressive vocals show a healthy range from lower growls to wicked high-pitches, while the rather high-pitched clean vocals are very melodic and transcendent in their sound, creating some great melody alongside the awesome guitar work. Speaking of which, both the guitar and the drum play coalesce perfectly in not only giving the songs a rock-solid framework in structure and instrumental focus, but they also showcase both the brutal and beautiful sides of the modern progressive metal genre, ranging from beautiful melodies to heavy polyrhythms. Even though, being a demo, the sound production isn't totally spot-on, that is no reason to not give this little gem a try, because each song is structured so well and invest the audience so deeply in their tech metal tunes that it leaves you scratching your head why the band hasn't exploded yet. However, with the band's full-length debut "Everything Beautiful" on its way, this little helping in the meantime will serve as a wondrous tease.
