Austral Alien

Alchemist and Adam Agius rarely if ever strayed far from the more eccentric side of metal and extreme music and in some ways Austral Alien is the most standard while also simultaneously being one of the most out there releases in their discography. Musically this is the "lightest" album Alchemist have ever released, very thin strands of their more extreme past resonate throughout but it's very sparse. This is more Rush doing progressive metal than the avant garde extreme metal of something like Lunasphere or even Organasm there's nothing like Chinese Whispers here or anything as heavy as what can be found on Organasm.

Synth keyboard sections along with more traditional guitar leads fuse with the psychedelic elements the band is known for with a stronger tighter more focused song writing effort. As a result song lengths stick to the more "standard" 3 - 5 minute mark and rarely stray beyond that, I wouldn't see this as a negative, there's less filler owing to this. Riffing and guitar work in general is less heavy than Organasm but similarly sci-fi themed leads by Roy Torkington permeate throughout backed up by a groovy more simplistic rhythm section courtesy of the excellent bass lines of John Bray and drumming of Rodney Holder. Solarburn and Older Than the Ancients are good examples of the more simplistic but tightly driven rhythm section, which compliments the lead guitar and atmosphere soaking synth work.

Lyrically this album centres around the damage done by European colonialism in Australia and the negative consequences associated like ecological damage done to the environment and the genocide and prejudice the native population faced to more fanatical futuristic doomsday scenarios like a solar flare destroying all life on earth. The general theme seems to be on systemic destruction of nature by the modern world or other forces. The vocal delivery of Adam Agius is similar to past records except gone are the real harsh screeches of earlier records replaced with more of the death growls but sparsely used, the most prevalent vocals used on this album are Agius' more atonal low range clean vocals. This may not be to many peoples taste but they are well delivered.

Austral Alien is definitely an Alchemist album, it has all the styling, trimmings and ingredients that make these Australian metal giants what they are eccentricity and strong musicianship however this album takes less of the organized chaos of Organism and more 70's progressive rock approach with it's song writing and synth work. One of the biggest draws for me personally is the strong rhythm section throughout, bass and drums combine to give a sense of drive throughout the album without muddying and bleeding into the leads. Standout tracks include Solarburn, Backward Journey and Epsilon.

Alchemist is one of those bands who offer something different on every album. Starting with their first three releases they are some of the heaviest albums by avant grade bands. I know that there are some who feel that this album was one of their weaker efforts because well lets face it, it's not Spiritech however this album is actually a very solid effort.

The album starts off with a heavy song with Adam belting out his trademark grunts over a mid-tempo riff with some really nice sounding keyboard effects. The album then slows down with the next few tracks with Adam mixing up his vocals from grunts, to yells, to screams, and some unexpected, yet fantastic clean singing. It is interesting as well that they seem to stick with their Australian roots, on the song "Great Southern Wasteland" where you can clearly hear a didgeridoo. There are also some great keyboard effects on the next two songs "Alpha Capella Nova Vega" and "Older Than the Ancients" that make me anyway feel like surfing on The Great Barrier Reef.

The album may very well be a concept album because it does have a message about what mankind has done to Australia however, as far as concept albums go it is one of the best ones out there. So if you have yet to hear Alchemist this album is a great start especially if you are one of those people who are just looking to get into mheavier music and want an easy album to start your journey.

Austral Alien starts with First Contact, an angry song about the defloration of the virginity of the Australian land. The whole album is an angry message to the world about how mankind have destroyed, and are destroying the Australian land. Second song Great Southern Wasteland is again from that kind and the topic of the next song Solarburn is quite easy to guess. Now about the music, it's a very difficult to understand mix of Hardcore, Nu-Metal and Death metal. I must confess I've never heard a band like this, and that makes this record very original. Also the usage of ancient Australian instruments like the Didgeree Doo is very nice to hear. Now about the vocals, Adam has a distinguished voice that can reach many heights. He can easily start with a low pitched growl, and turn that growl into a clean voice. I can say one thing about it, it's very difficult to listen to this album if you don't know what to expect. My first impression was an overwhelmed feeling about the cleanness of the guitar's and the vocals.

The integrity of songs like Alpha Cappella Nova Vega and Grief Barrier will drench you in another state of mind. With this album Alchemist have created an original and intrigue album that won't begin to bore after a few listening turns. Also the very intelligent lyrics are certainly worth reading. Australia have more than The Berzerker!