Saturday, October 20, 2018

Alkymist- Alkymist (Indisciplinarian Records INDISC22)


Alkymist is a pretty new band from Copenhagen Denmark featuring two ex Gas Giant members (Stefan Krey and Kasper Luke).  They are joined by Philip on drums and Peter (used to sing with the metal band Detest in the 90s) on vocals.  The album features 6 tracks, 3 of which appeared on their cassette released earlier this year but they have been rerecorded here.  Do not expect psychedelic stoner rock ala Gas Giant, this is doomy death metal. The LP starts off the track Ghost (see video below). It starts with just the drums and then a very heavy guitar riff kicks in and over the top of that a second nice melodic guitar line. Peter’s vocal is very impressive with some powerful lyrics as well.  Eventually, there is a short guitar solo section before back to the punishingly heavy death doom!




Djinn speeds things up a bit, especially the start with the intense drumming and then the deadly doom returns.  I like the spacey mid –section with a whispered voice, which gives you a break from the intensity of the music, which speeds up again at the end with some interesting guitar riffing and other guitar parts in between the darkness.  Check the video for this track below.


Myling is a moody one with a variation on what you have heard before, with a similar hanging melodic guitar line before the heaviness kicks in. There is a short melodic sort of guitar solo that ties some of the sections of the song but this is more for the mood, no real powerful solos like Stefan can play. Nice melodic ending.

Side B starts with the instrumental, Egypt II, a short keyboard intro track that leads into the long track, Paradise. This has a riff a bit more like the band Sleep, but a darker lyrical content than Sleep. IT eventually comes down with some nice acoustic guitar and a more soft vocal before the evil grows once more and you are thrown back into hell with the demon death spawn. Potent! Serpent is the last track on the album and starts with the sound of the ocean. The guitar is the first instrument to enter with a beautiful guitar line and nice vocal by Peter before the intensity of the music grows. This one comes in waves and changes things up a bit. Probably the most heavy metal of the tracks. This is some heavy and  intense music but I miss the amazing guitar playing of Stefan. I feel like this style of music really limits him severely. I shared the stage with Stefan many times over the years and he is one of the best lead guitar players on the planet but you would never know that from listening to this record.  This is a tight band, with the drums and bass, really well played to set the template for the death doom attack. Phew.. what an album. 


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