Alchemist - Embryonics

Tracklist:
Disk 1:
1. Chinese Whispers
2. Abstraction
3. Unfocused
4. Enhancing Enigma
5. Dancing To Life
6. Brumal
7. Lunation
8. Staying Conscious
9. Shell
10. Garden Of Eroticism
11. Jar Of Kingdom
12. Paisley Bieurr
13. Yoni Kunda (Live To Air) (Bonus Track)
14. Closed Chapter (Live To Air) (Bonus Track)

Disk 2:
1. Eve Of The War
2. Beyond Genesis
3. Yoni Kunda
4. Purple
5. Imagination Flower
6. Spirittechnology
7. Soul Return
8. Road To Ubar
9. Found
10. Clout
11. Worlds Within Worlds
12. My Animated Truth
13. Closed Chapter
14. Chinese Whispers (Live) (Bonus Track)

Genre: Progressive Metal
Year: 2006

Although this dual-disc was released 2006, it's actually a compilation of works from 1990 to 1998. The songs are taken from Alchemist's first three albums Spiritech, Jar of Kingdom, and Lunasphere. There are also two from a '9o demo (Jar Of Kingdom, Paisley Bieurr), a '91 demo (Enhancing Enigma, Imagination Flower), a '94 promo (My Animated Truth, Closed Chapter), and one from the Eve Of The War EP (guess). However, there isn't really any sense of disconnectedness or fracturedness on Embryonics. In fact, there is only one sense on Embryonics: pure fucking awesomeness. Alchemist is sort of a clever combination of Death Metal, Progressive Metal, Psychadelic music, and Eastern Influences, with just a dab of experimentalism. All together, this creates an amazing experience that simply is stunning. Imagine a 8 armed caveman multi-instrumentalist that simply creates amazing music. Now imagine him being eaten by a T-Rex, and that dinosaur gains all of his genes. This dinosaur is then abducted by 5 ambidextrous aliens. The dinosaur is eaten by these aliens, and they gain the caveman's musical genes. They then return to earth and form Alchemist. That is how fucking godly this band can sound. It's so original and refreshing to listen to this band that it hurts (in such a good way). BOTH of these discs are worth your time. Embryonics is simply amazing.

Grade: 9.5/10

DOWNLOAD Embryonics [Disc 1]
DOWNLOAD Embryonics [Disc 2]

Acid Ice Flows - Utumno & Three Unreleased Tracks

Tracklist:
1. Embrace The Ground
2. Just Hate
3. Wreckage
4. Barbed-Wire God
5. Lidless Eyes
6. Gravel
7. Spasm
8. No. 74
9. Fade

Unreleased Tracklist:
1. All Cats Are Grey
2. The Anal Staircase
3. A:Stfunoya

Genre: Industrial/Dark Electro
Year: 2005

With a name like Acid Ice Flows, one can't help but be curious as to what the music sounds like, or maybe perhaps what goes on in the artists head. AIF is, according to the liner notes of Utumno, the combined creative efforts of Adam and Red. Although I own the album, AIF has recently put out Utumno and 3 unreleased tracks out on last.fm for free download. The tracks you will (hopefully) be downloading for the full-length are burned in 320 kb, and both are in .rar, so it will be easier for you to download all at once. Now, on to the music. I must admit I love their name (Acid Ice Flows just sounds so bad ass), I wondered what exactly Utumno meant. I assumed for a long time that it was just a made up word. Turns out, Utumno is a place in Middle-Earth. OK, whatever floats their boat. But their music is top notch, particuarly for being done for no profit in their spare time. Don't make the mistake of downloading this and expecting some sort of extreme dance music, because this ain't it. With the exception of Wreckage and maybe A:Stfunoya, nothing here is really too fit for the dancefloor. This is grade-a dark electro. The vocalist usually sounds like a man gargling a vocoder, and although that sounds really silly, it actually manages to sound really creepy. The synths accentuate the sound well, and the overall mood is extremely dark. However, I think Utumno really picks up after Barbed-Wire God, although Wreckage is probably my favorite track. The songs after Lidless Eyes are much less childy aggressive in their lyrics, and the synths are generally more creative.

The unreleased tracks are a (good) cover of The Cure's All Cats Are Grey, a (good) cover of Coil's The Anal Staircase (dedicated to the late great Johnny Balance), and the (good) AIF original A:Stfunoya. All of these songs are worth downloading as well, and are on par with Utumno.

Grade: 9/10

DOWNLOAD Utumno

DOWNLOAD Acid Ice Flow's Unreleased Materials