The infamous Satanists known as Acheron have had many highs and lows in their long history. In their 16 years of existence the band split up a couple of times and had more line-up changes than a sports team. I call Acheron a band but in all honesty; Acheron is the brain child of one man: the ex-reverend Vincent Crowley. Once a high priest in the Church Of Satan, he decided to leave the church a couple of years ago because he couldn’t relate to its principles wholeheartedly. He is still is a convinced Satanist however and luckily he still uses Acheron as a vessel for expressing his beliefs. For the ignorant people among us: being a Satanist doesn’t mean you’re worshipping the devil or are offering babies or virgins. A true Satanist believes that there is no god but himself.

The cd starts with obligate reversed spoken words reminding me of Venom’s “In A League With Satan”. After that it’s of to a journey in to old school satanic death metal. The first real track “Church Of One” is immediately a strong one. Vincent puts down the statement that sets the tone for the rest of the album.

“Life has showed me the way, I need no priest or some temple to pray, Wholeness, comes from within, I bend knees not, I rejoice in my sin.”

Acheron has a very own style of death metal that defies easy resembling with other bands. It’s very melodic yet at the same time vicious and aggressive. It all sounds old-fashioned without being redundant or copied. When listening Rebirth, I constantly hear new details and reading the lyrics gives me some insight in the beliefs of a true Satanist. It’s good to read something more clever than “Kill the Nazarene, kill, kill, kill”. The lyrics, all written by Vincent Crowley, are a delight to read. My favourite is “Golgotha’s Truth”, an alternative version of the crucifixion of Christ The only thing that is irritating on this cd is the last track. Listening to nine minutes of shrieking noise is too much and not a pleasant ending to a very good cd.

On the promotional photo’s they may look like a bunch of old farts, “Rebirth: Metamorphosing Into Godhood” is the proof that looks don’t matter because Acheron kills