Review on Austral Alien ALCHEMIST by Mike Groover

Alchemist are back with another great collection of metal, melodic and passionate songs. From its beginnings in thrash metal through the days of blast beat and death metal, Alchemist has constantly changed with its listeners. The new album doesn't grab you right away - it's definitely not a casual listen - but like all good albums it takes some time to settle in. Musically there is a lot going on here: metal guitars, keyboards for textures, harsh vocals. (but not Kam Lee's previous obliterations!) and thoughtful lyrics about the environment, especially Australia. The last one is really impressive - great to see this band commenting on Australia etc and making such mature, 'real' music. Definitely a CD for anyone who is open minded and loves Metal - the two don't have to contradict each other! I only wish I had "Spiritech" - their back catalog is embarrassingly hard to come by!