Alphastate are a heavy metal band from Athens, Greece, they are made up of Pete Breaker on Guitar, Manos Xanthakis on Vocals, and Fivos Andriopoulos on Drums. Currently the spot for bassist is open, but even without a full time bassist the band really do rock hard, and if you don’t believe me then check out this review I did of them last year.
‘Trapped’ hammers out of the gate, which is a kind of ironic choice of words considering the name of the track. It’s a lot of trashing guitars and percussion, that build throughout the track, a very fierce opening track. It takes over a full minute for the vocals to join in, but you aren’t left waiting as you get dragged along by this intense piece of music.
‘Phantom Desires’ opens with a tight percussive section, that melds perfectly with the hard guitars, and only improves when the vocals come in, I enjoy the vocals from this band, it’s always very distinct and unique, and always very theatrical. This is a group that understands how important it is to make an impression.
‘Speak Your Mind’ hammers forward, and doesn’t let up, truly a superior entry in what is already shaping up to be an awesome album. Now I’ve reviewed the band previously, and you can find the link to that up top but this album is a new level for Alphastate and this track is a perfect example of that. What I like most is the balance of the hard instrumentals and the comparatively softer vocals, they aren’t straining their voices instead they are focusing on quality rather than volume, and something impressive is created as a result.
‘Theater Of Lies’ opens similarly to the previous track, but takes things a little slower, which I like, I enjoy a band that balance up their sound well, it’s not all one thing, but instead a blend of energies and style. Another think I liked about this track was the actual hook, it worked really well and I’ll certainly be singing it to myself over the next couple of weeks.
‘The Grind’ is the title track for the album, and so I have high hopes for it, and Alphastate delivered and then some, it’s fast, it hits hard and has some phenomenal guitar sections that I could listen to all day, but overall no one part of this song made it great but instead the collaborative melody and power of the group delivered this exceptional track.
‘Forevermore’ opens with a superbly built up combination of instruments of which the drums are the most noticeable, this is a track that just doesn’t give up, at times it dips a little but then it just powers up again. This track is definitely a contender for my top track on the album.
‘Behind The Dark’ is similar to ‘Forevermore’ to begin with except that guitars take the focus more than drums this time, but that’s the only real comparison, other than the fact that like the previous track it can be relentless. And that is most certainly a compliment, the entire album shares that tenacious quality of just grabbing you tightly so that you experience the music as it should be.
‘Heaven’s World’ is the second to last track, and even though the album is coming to a close it doesn’t just coast by, this is as strong a track as any other on this album, harder even, and it’s definitely one worth listening to, I haven’t had this with any other track on the album so far but I feel like I would really enjoy this one in person. So hopefully the band will tour on Scotland real soon.
‘Man Made God’ is very different to the other tracks on this album, from the get go you can feel sure you are getting something special for the last track on the album, and you do. But it’s not just different and that’s it, it takes everything good about the other tracks on the album, but also shows more of what they can do.
So that’s what I thought of Alphastate and their new album ‘The Grind’ which you can check out on Spotify. And if you want to keep up to date with the band then follow them on Facebook and Twitter.
First Published on: https://offtherecordblog.org/
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