Review by Emma on May 29, 2009.

Coming from Louisville, KY is Hardcore Death act Antikythera with their self titled and released debut album. The raw opening to their first track ‘Cranial Distress Due To The Principles Of Inertia’ was promising but the follow up failed to impress. Antikythera’s sound fits into the aforementioned genre description exactly; chugging guitars, ping-ponging between vocal styles, and plenty of movie sound clips to go around. Too many. There are points of a single guitar riding over the consistent chugging sound that provide evidence of what these guys can do and where their sound can go. Hopefully they’ll have pursued that further. The really interesting thing about this album was the band’s name. Antikythera is the Greek town at which the ancient shipwreck bearing two important items, the Antikythera Ephebe (a bronze statue) and the Antikythera Mechanism (an astrological calculator dating about 100 BC and deemed more valuable than the Mona Lisa, not to mention another band’s name). Antikythera’s lyrics only briefly visit the historical theme their name implies. Most of the lyrical subject matter bounces back to the 21st century, with exception to ‘The Battle Of Cannae,’ located just 733 miles from Antikythera! All in all this is not a bad album for fans of screaming vocals and the hardcore sound; they will get a kick out of this.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 8
Atmosphere: 2
Originality: 3.5
Production: 8
Overall: 4.5

Rating: 5.2 out of 10