Akimbo

Akimbo
Jersey Shores 2008 Neurot Recordings

Concept albums are dangerous things. They require a perfect balance of song and story, something composers of the Renaissance era called "Word Painting," and stray but a little in either direction and you could find yourself mired a sloppy mess. There have been many acts as of late who have attempted this formula, announcing brilliant concepts such as Leviathan by Mastodon which was based upon the novel Moby Dick only to have it crushed under its own weight. Concept albums have always been a chance for a band to expand and experiment with things they may not normally try, many times creating songs that meld the band's particular style with something far more operatic.
It has always been interesting to me that to most bands, the idea of the concept album means long drawn out sections of color and ambiance. I have no strong objection to this in most cases, but I do not think it has ever been written down as a requirement of the form.
With Jersey Shores, Akimbo gives us a concept we can sink our teeth into, namely a string of shark attacks that occurred in the year 1916 off the coast of New Jersey, the sames ones that inspired Peter Benchley's novel Jaws. In my own research into said attacks, I became even more entranced by the album for its historical accuracy, with songs titles sharing names with the key locations and victims of the events.
The songs are all over the place and for the most part that is a great things. There are beautiful stretches of quiet, melodic sections that are quite out of character for Akimbo but are executed perfectly and are precisely placed so as to erupt into the brilliant cacophony that they do so well. It sets up calm that helps you envision a pleasant beach day that can descend into complete terror at a moment's notice. The vocals are appropriate for each section, not simply the earth moving bellow that normally adorned past Akimbo efforts. They move like a tide, from melodious shouting to high pitched, blood-curdling screams as if becoming the shark, the victims and the witnesses all at once.
However, this cannot be called the most memorable of concept albums and I dare say that there are moments, however rare they may be, that descend into something bit lackluster. Case in point being the opening track "Matwan": Until the last two minutes or so, it stampedes perfectly along, luring us in quietly with impending doom and shouted warnings of power and ferocity. But we find it disintegrating into an uninspired mess at the climax that even carries over into the opening moments of the next track before being saved by brilliance once again in crisp waves of swaying melody.
But those are the trappings in attempting to create a worthy concept album and it takes something special to be willing to take such chances and move away from your musical comfort zone. I would say that Akimbo has achieved something highly remarkable for over 90% of this album, proving themselves to be a metallic force to be respected. Perfect, however, it is not and I would not recommend it to the casual Akimbo fan nor to the hardcore metal fan, who both may simply find it too odd. But even so, make no mistake that there is a place for this album in the hallowed halls of heavy music.