Alkemy - da 63 projekt - 2003
intro
Alkemy is a French band, founded in 2000. Following the release of a 7-track demo entitled “Stockholm syndrome” in 2001, “da 63 projekt” is their first official album release. Band members are Lionel Bertrand (drums), Aurélien Budynek (guitar and vocals), Aurélie Martin (keyboards) and Philippe Sifre (bass and backing vocals). Most of them are influenced by artists and bands like Joe Satriani and Dream Theatre, but also by jazz(rock) and symphonic bands.
review
Especially the “heavy ones” of these influences are clearly
audible on this debut album. Almost every song is dominated by the heavy
metal sound of Aurélien Budynek’s
guitar, who is responsible for all compositions. His solos are jazzrock
influenced, as in the instrumental piece “Turtle
soup” (5:56). In a track like “On
the very day” (5:07) we here some funky rhythm guitar play.
Philippe Sifre’s bass with regularity
also sounds funky, for instance in opening track “Underwater”
(6:07) and in track 4 “Sick seekers”
(6:26).
This is also one of the few tracks where the keyboards play a role of
some importance, in this case primarily because of some sparkling piano
play that really freshens up the robust sound of Alkemy.
It is therefore a pity that overall the keyboards are very low in the
mix and sound rather subdued. Apart from that, the use of keyboards is
restricted to acoustic and electric piano (with a nice solo in “Within
my prism” (6:32)), some organ chords (in “Sick
seekers”) and atmospheric sounds (in the earlier mentioned
“Underwater” and “Sick
seekers”, but also in “Turtle
soup” (5:56) and closing track “My
eyes” (8:01)). In “Inner pulse”
(5:22) we hear a nice tremolo keyboard part, that reminds of a track of
the first album of UK.
conclusion
Heavy, (too) serious, not sparkling and lack of variation are in summary the qualifications that I would give to this French debut. More emphasis on the keyboards and variety in compositions are my suggestions for the possible successor of this album.