ALCHEMIST (Austral Alien) CD
This Australian band isn't the typical Relapse Records artist, though they explore the land behind the boundaries of traditional Metal, too, but they don't have any blast-beats or ultra-deep death growls. This is the fifth album, and due to the lack of information about former releases, I can't say anything about any differences or changes. Anyway, the melting pot of influences from which ALCHEMIST are drawing includes more prog- and space rock substances. In contrast, they have Neurosis- like moments combined with Killing Joke-like stuff. This entire combination makes "Austral Alien" to a surprising release, with enough intense heavy moments. Sometimes the keyboards and the percussive rythm patterns are giving an oriental dimension to the whole sound. The band is able to create very emotional moments with intelligent lyrics.
ALCHEMIST are building massive song structures, but they got the ability to write rousing pop melodies, without losing the hard driving sound. This is complex textural polyrythmic psych metal prog, sometimes bittersweet, than angry and furious, but still very emotional and overwhelming, in combination with an ethnic instrumentation. "Austral Alien" is an album for listeners, who likes to discover new details after every listening session and who aren't afraid of expanding their hearing habits. I'm still fascinated and I give you the advice to check out this excellent band. For further infos, vist the ALCHEMIST homepage.
(KK)