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Alkahest, Northern Sword, Osmosis, & Trifixion
July 5, 2010
CHRIS
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Alkahest - Demo EP
For some atmospheric “brood metal” out of Brooklyn, New York we have Alkahest, a five-piece with its three-song demo/EP that borders somewhere between both early and later Anathema and early 3rd and the Mortal, not a bad combo in my book. At first listen I can say there are some very interesting things happening here. 

With three tracks clocking in at nearly thirty-minutes the question is whether the music can withstand long passages of musical endeavor without complying with stagnancy and for the most part it does. More along the doom side of the metal sphere, especially in “Milk and Morphine,” Alkahest has an interesting grasp of the atmospheric doom handle and creates some occasionally enchanting music, complete with ethereal breathy vocals. While far from perfection, there are some good prospects here and I’d really like to hear the music polished a bit and with stellar production.

Decently-produced, the EP is a positive jumping point for this relatively new band. With some time, patience and a few tweaks and polishes I think they might be able to go on to some bigger things down the road. For now, we have a good effort that has potential. 
Osmosis - Osmosis
Release Date:  May 2010
Band Self Released

TRACK LISTING:
1.  Marches & Torches  2.  Salting Thy Wound  3.  Deities 
4.  Voices & Dwellers           -    Total playing time: 11:30
Osmosis hails from Spain and offers its take on grindcore/death metal ala Gorguts or Cryptopsy. The four-track demo has moments of speedy hateful plundering, typical of the grind genre, but aside from one or two good guitar riffs I’m just not overly impressed. Typically I don’t understand the wanton desire to distort and bury the vocals so they sound like utter mud as they do in the first track. If I’ve missed something vital to the grindcore mystique here then I’m remiss, but you can have that hectic sound without relegating the vocal pattern to a step under crap. 

The music is okay, nothing too special in terms of anything new or different. The drum pattern program is more of an annoyance for my ears; it just seems to flatten the sound in a lot of ways. As I said, aside from some decent guitar riffs here and there there’s just not a lot going on for me that manages to stay with me for the long haul. The sounds are brutal and ugly yes, but there are a few other bands from this sub-genre that might grab more of my attention.
Northern Sword - Demo 2010
Release Date:  May 18th, 2010
Band Self Released

TRACK LISTING:
1.  In the Name of Odin  2.  For Glory and Gold  3.  Draw Yours Swords  4.  Nine Steps of Sorrow
-    Total playing time: 24:29
Along the lines of Eluveitie’s Viking-like existence Northern Sword spills a table full of mead and delivers a stunningly good demo of musical odes to Valhalla while working on its first full-length.

First, I can’t believe these guys are from the States; that to me is simply amazing since the plethora of bands out there often lean more towards the all-too-imitated Manowar shtick or Hammerfall “chant” metal. With just enough power metal influence to satiate the pallet and a severe amount of epicurean Viking metal Northern Sword mixes the pot quite well.

With such a large push in the pagan/Viking/epic metal emerging of late there are bound to be the lackluster, redundant bands spilling out of the box, but for the most part this demo is a good indicator that Northern Sword will put the U.S. on the pagan’s battle map. “For Glory and Gold” is keyboard heavy (and some of you might know how I typically loathe keyboards in metal), but it provides a very bombastic shroud to the very well-organized song. You can’t help but picture an ancient Norse boat carrying a horde of Vikings into battle while they sing along at the end. It’s grandiose and fun while retaining the heavy metal feel.

With some pretty fine production throughout, it’s a great offering from a band with serious potential for big things. Fans of Eluveitie, Ensiferum and early Amon Amarth take note.      
DOWNLOAD Demo 2010 FREE from the band's band camp  page: http://northernsword.bandcamp.com/album/demo-2010
Release Date:  April 20th, 2010
Band Self Released

TRACK LISTING:
1.  Duchess  2.  Milk and Morphine  3.  Labrador
-    Total playing time: 28:10
DOWNLOAD Demo EP FREE from the band's band camp page: http://alkahest.bandcamp.com/album/demo-ep
DOWNLOAD Osmosis FREE from the band's myspace page.
(click on link above)
Trifixion - When All Else Fails
Release Date:  June 7, 2010
Band Self Released

TRACK LISTING:
1.  The Last Apocalypse  2.  In Nomine Patre  3.  Fucked in the Guttural Vortex           -    Total playing time:  12:20
Trifixion is the U.K.’s brutal projectile vomit of death metal in the face of the polished, trite sounds of mallcore bands that enrage and befuddle us real metalheads. With death metal still going strong in the modern day, Trifixion has a place among in the stable!

With three songs right out of the old-school vein, When All Else Fails reads like an old Incantation demo mixed with some early Entombed for measure and style. There’s something to be said for such a “primitive” sound as long as it’s discernable and catchy, both of which are the case here. “Fucked in the Guttural Vortex” is a violent undertaking, providing an unseen bat to the back of the head with some really nice guitar work. While not perfect in production, the band has some good ideas and an overall deadly sound that holds my interest.    

Without a full-time speeding into a brick wall that tends to bore the listener, the tracks manage some slow, pounding moments amidst the fast chaos for a good mix of death/thrash/grindcore with that familiar down-tune aura oft-imitated, yet hardly done with justice. The tracks are decently crafted with some solid time changes showing these guys have some chops. I would really enjoy a full-length with some slight polishing sometime soon.     
DOWNLOAD When All Else Fails FREE from the band's myspace page.   (click on link above)
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