TRIPSIS

"Tripsis" is the 6th full-length studio album by Australian metal act Alchemist. The album was released in August 2007 through Chatterbox Records in the band´s homeland and through Relapse Records worldwide (pre-orders to Relapse Records originally included a free copy of Alchemist´s previous album, "Austral Alien (2003)"). Alchemist was founded in 1987 and have long been one of the most prolific acts on the Australian extreme metal scene.

The music on "Tripsis" has changed a bit since "Austral Alien (2003)" becoming a bit faster/more busy (especially the drumming by Rodney Holder which is really energetic on this album) and more aggressive. How the music sounds is still hard to describe, as Alchemist are generally a very eclectic sounding act, but an exotic combination of Prong (Adam Agius vocals are very similar to the way Tommy Victor sounds) and Killing Joke with a few nods towards the darkest releases by The Cure isn´t completely wrong. Take a listen to the opening minute of "Nothing in No Time" for an example of the latter influence. It reminds me of some of the guitar work on "Pornography (1982)". I guess you can call it industrial/thrash metal with a few nods towards goth rock.

The musicianship on the album is on a high level. It´s a treat how the two guitarists compliment each other with one playing distorted rhythmic riffs and the other playing less distorted and atmospheric parts. As mentioned the rhythm section is really busy on this album and they provide the music with great energy. Adam Agius might not be the most varied vocalist, but his raw barks are delivered in a convincing fashion and he actually successfully gets away with singing a couple of clean parts too. One other thing worth mentioning are the samples which are handled by Nick Wall. They are not dominant, but more used as background atmosphere enhancers and along with the use of keyboards create a "wall of sound" listening experience. Such an experience is only pleasant with a suiting sound production where you can hear what´s going on, and that´s fortunately the case with the sound production on "Tripsis", which is professional, clear, and powerful.

Overall "Tripsis" is an album that reeks class. Intriguing songwriting, excellent musicianship and a powerful sound production to boot. A 4 star (80%) rating is not a star too much.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives)