Akula as a going concern is a relative newcomer to the scene having only existed for less than a year, but this beast is constructed from veterans of the Columbus, Ohio metal community.  Chris Thompson and Jeff Martin from Lo-Pan handle guitar and vocals, Sergei Parfenov from Ves/Nightsoil is also on guitar, while Scott Hyatt from Bridesmaid fame brings the bass and Ronnie Miller from Artillery Breath mans the drum kit.  Based on the collective metal resume brought to this band, there should be no question that it will slay.  Spoiler alert; it slays.

A Pound Of Flesh kicks off the album and sets the tone for the rest of the album by packing a truck load of riffs into the first song.  Flesh begins with an ascending tone that allows Martin’s vocals to climb and climb until it hits a brick wall of riffage and drum fills about a minute into the piece.  From there the track shifts tempo a couple times before ending with around 90 seconds of instrumental dynamics before finally coming back down to earth.  Born Of Fire is another stand out track that showcases the band as a true sum of its parts.  A nice mid-tempo base is laid down by the band that sets up Martin’s vocals to shine once again.  Hyatt and Miller bring huge sounding bass and drums to drive the song into its final descent.