by Stewart MasonOriginally released in 1999 but increasingly difficult to find ever since, Akercocke's debut album is an interesting mix of two musical styles that don't often go together. About half of Rape of the Bastard Nazarene (just about the most obviously calculated, and therefore non-shocking, album title of all time) consists of utterly standard-issue death metal, complete with whiplash tempos, hyperspeed blast drumming, and the often comical "death growl" vocals. The other half of the album is doomy, synth-heavy post-punk seemingly influenced by the likes of Killing Joke and (especially on the unexpectedly melodic, catchy "Marguerite & Gretchen") Pornography-era Cure. Both elements of the band's sound are quite well done, but particularly given the schematic album sequencing, where one death metal song is followed by one goth-gloom song, and so on, Rape of the Bastard Nazarene sounds more like a split EP from two different bands than a proper album.