Embryonics
So, brainbin has been a little, shall we say, antsy about me writing my thoughts about the Alchemist 2CD compilation "Embryonics" which he bought me now several weeks ago. Has it been a month? I could check my archives, but the point is that it has been a long time coming. When I saw it, I was immediately drawn to it. I had heard about the CD, but hadn't heard any songs by the band. The price was perfect, and I was in the mood for taking a chance. I figured it would be a good introduction to the well-respected band, as it contained a collection of songs from their first 3 demos and 4 albums, all now long out of print. So, tonight, I do my best at talking about the album and hope it isn't a total cop-out.
First, a bit about Alchemist - they're an Australian metal band that's been around since 1990. Normally I would prefix the word "metal" with some sort of genre, but with Alchemist, this is quite difficult. I'll put it this way - I've never heard another band like Alchemist. I guess to describe their sound... I'd say it's rooted heavily in thrash metal, with many speedy, catchy riffs. Then, on top of that, you add a lot of psychadelic, spacey guitars and the odd industrial beep or sound effect. Get a groovy-as-hell drummer and bassist to somehow form a backbone for the heavily progressive song structures, and then get a vocalist that can do, and will do, damn near every type of singing in the metal playbook (although there aren't many "clean" vocals if at all).
The opening track on the first disc, "Chinese Whispers", is as good as an example as any. It does a slow build into a heavy, headbanging friendly foundation with elongated, slightly distorted vocals. Then the hypnotic guitars start dancing in the background, until the chorus hits, and the vocalist lets loose some of the craziest frantic, high-pitched screams that I've ever heard. This verse-chorus structure repeats again before a discordant solo opens a completely entrancing two-guitar section playing hypnotic scales, and then a section of total groove... fades to silence, bells slowly ring in the background as the hypnotic guitar returns over a persistent, rhythmic crash of a drumbeat... beeps or just effect-boxed guitars interject through an arabic-sounding scale pattern. After a few minutes, the distorted guitars return, bringing with them a synthesizer wail, rising and plummeting, drawing forth what I believe to be a keyboard solo. The old verse style from a good 5 minutes ago returns, vocalist once again distorted and floating over the heavy riffs. Breaking this trance, the screaming shatters all illusions of peace before the track fades to a close.
I could quite easily do a similar description of all 27 other tracks, but I think everyone would get tired of it at that point. This is complex stuff, carefully balancing heavy and harmony, headbanging and hypnosis. It's psychadelic prog-thrash, and it's glorious. Three of the songs on here are live versions, and even more astounding is that these guys manage to play these songs pretty damn seamlessly. Wow.
I've listened to this album in full 6 or 7 times now, and there's always something new to discover, some section you hadn't noticed before. It took me so long to review because of how "dense" the sound is, how technical and packed it is of different elements. I'd highly reccommend it.
First, a bit about Alchemist - they're an Australian metal band that's been around since 1990. Normally I would prefix the word "metal" with some sort of genre, but with Alchemist, this is quite difficult. I'll put it this way - I've never heard another band like Alchemist. I guess to describe their sound... I'd say it's rooted heavily in thrash metal, with many speedy, catchy riffs. Then, on top of that, you add a lot of psychadelic, spacey guitars and the odd industrial beep or sound effect. Get a groovy-as-hell drummer and bassist to somehow form a backbone for the heavily progressive song structures, and then get a vocalist that can do, and will do, damn near every type of singing in the metal playbook (although there aren't many "clean" vocals if at all).
The opening track on the first disc, "Chinese Whispers", is as good as an example as any. It does a slow build into a heavy, headbanging friendly foundation with elongated, slightly distorted vocals. Then the hypnotic guitars start dancing in the background, until the chorus hits, and the vocalist lets loose some of the craziest frantic, high-pitched screams that I've ever heard. This verse-chorus structure repeats again before a discordant solo opens a completely entrancing two-guitar section playing hypnotic scales, and then a section of total groove... fades to silence, bells slowly ring in the background as the hypnotic guitar returns over a persistent, rhythmic crash of a drumbeat... beeps or just effect-boxed guitars interject through an arabic-sounding scale pattern. After a few minutes, the distorted guitars return, bringing with them a synthesizer wail, rising and plummeting, drawing forth what I believe to be a keyboard solo. The old verse style from a good 5 minutes ago returns, vocalist once again distorted and floating over the heavy riffs. Breaking this trance, the screaming shatters all illusions of peace before the track fades to a close.
I could quite easily do a similar description of all 27 other tracks, but I think everyone would get tired of it at that point. This is complex stuff, carefully balancing heavy and harmony, headbanging and hypnosis. It's psychadelic prog-thrash, and it's glorious. Three of the songs on here are live versions, and even more astounding is that these guys manage to play these songs pretty damn seamlessly. Wow.
I've listened to this album in full 6 or 7 times now, and there's always something new to discover, some section you hadn't noticed before. It took me so long to review because of how "dense" the sound is, how technical and packed it is of different elements. I'd highly reccommend it.