Alkira: Juggernaut
Alkira are back once again and this time with a devastating leviathan of a full length album, the name Juggernaut is very apt because the album is massive!
I've been listening to these guys since they were known as Fish (don't bother looking for any albums) and have seen them play live numerous times and have been waiting on their first full length album with bated breath. They have, after 2 excellent EP's; finally written, recorded and sent out promos for their upcoming full length album Juggernaut.
There is a lot of Thrash coming out of Australia at the moment and most of it is incredible, bands such as Evil Eye, Hidden Intent, Death Dependent and Mason among many others, while these bands are all excellent in their own right it's Alkira that pushes boundaries and creates something with more depth and blurs genres more than any other and that's something that needs to be done with a genre such as thrash, only so much can be done with it and it's just about all been done before. Juggernaut sounds like old school Death/Thrash like early Sepultura and some of the early Crossover bands mashed together with the classic early thrash and has all been thrown in a cauldron and sprinkled with some prog. The sound is also a lot bigger than most thrash, it sounds like it's being played in a cavern rather than a hot basement and that gives the album some really epic moments and makes me raise my claw at the sky when the harmonies ring out!
The instruments all sound remarkable on Juggernaut, the drums sound fucking massive and are played perfectly, there are quite a few tempo changes but the drums never lose time and always sound crushing. The bass sounds like a thunderous cavalcade, it gives the songs a dimension hitherto unwitnessed and on the albums namesake track you can hear it driving the sound out from the shadows it's just devastating. The guitars... The fucking guitars... The rhythm guitar is just fury incarnate, the speed at times is incomprehensible and they are catchy and never get boring or sound like you've heard it before, it's very unique playing. The lead guitar is fierce and the harmonies and solos are insane, they are played with such vigor and passion that I'm sure the band had trouble keeping Greg from floating away while he played them. I'm sure the fretboards of both the guitars are scorched from the recording process. The vocals are huge, the music calls for some massive noise and the vocals are delivered with such malice and hatred that you can hardly contain yourself, you just want to scream along.
The tracks on the album are really varied and unique both to the genre but also to each other which is something that's rare these days. From the opening epic crawl in on the track “Chains” you can sense the band is preparing you for something epic and once they have you in your seat they unleash the fury like a gunshot to your ear holes with track 2 “Submission Therapy”. Track 4 #479 is a furious death/thrash devastator, it doesn't let up the entire track and sounds like a Sepultura b-side. Track 7 “Juggernaut” is quite a varied and unique track and has some of the most awesome guitar work on the entire album and is the perfect namesake. The second last track on the album “Institution” is a fast and to the point track but has these little bridges that change the dynamic of the track from a straight forward thrash track, to a thrash/prog track almost and it is a pleasure to listen to, there is also an extremely well played ending that will break a few necks when played live! This album has such a variation of tracks and sounds and tempo changes that you never get bored, I never thought even once about any other music when I was listening to this album and that's pretty much my job, so that's very rare.
Pros:
Really varied and well written album
Has a really old school feeling but sounds as modern as it gets
The instruments are played to a tee
Finally a full length!
Cons:
None...
Overall Impression:
I have been waiting a very long time for a full length album from Alkira and I'm really glad it took this long, this is definitely a mighty fucking debut and is for me one of the thrash albums of the year.
Track List:
Chains
Submission Therapy
Land of the Sodomite Damned
#479
The Fleet
Inebriated State
Juggernaut
Spiritual Abuse (Parallel Prisons)
Institution
Shattered End
Total Running Time: 52:20
Line-up:
Greg Challis – Lead Guitar / Vocals
Kyle Simpson – Guitar
Sean Grubel – Bass
Ryan Quarrington – Drums
Genre: Thrash
Release Date: October 18th 2014
Label: Independent
Links:
https://www.facebook.com/AlkiraMetal
https://soundcloud.com/alkirametal
https://www.youtube.com/user/AlkiraMetal
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