Alter Self - Ashes Over Eden (CD)

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ALTER SELF is a pretty new band and I kind of happen to know the story behind its formation. Andrew, the vocalist/guitarist and frontman of this band was part of another Greek band, RAW IN SECT. For reasons I do not know, he departed and formed its own Metal unity, ALTER SELF. The funny thing about this incident is that these two bands move in the same musical path…

Anyway, Ashes Over Eden is the band's first release. A demo with three tracks is the way this trio decided to present its work to us. The very first thing that made an impression on me, and dare I say a negative one, was the sound. Even though it is crystal clear and you can hear every detail, it features live recorded drums (thumbs up in times when everything is programmed) but with a sound that is not the best possible. The guitars are also kind of weak, especially when you are playing Death/Thrash Metal (yeah, I forgot to mention what they play) which at times gets technical. The bass should also be kind of higher in the final mix, but ok, I am not a sound engineer and that's not what I should talk about right now. The music is not bad, not bad at all, but it is more than obvious that these are the band's first steps since they could use a lot of improvement.

They are skilled musicians with nice ideas, but my humble opinion is that they should work a bit more on presenting tighter songs that won't let their ideas spread throughout the tracks. Nice first attempt, but I cannot really judge a band by three tracks, and without having a sound that could show up their strong attributes. I will be waiting for a full-length release to see their true skills.

Extra kudos go to the guest appearance of Giannis N. (DARK VISION, MORTAL TORMENT) who also designed the demo's artwork.