Alkira is:
Gregory Challis – Lead guitar/Vocals
Kyle Simpson – Rhythm guitar
Sean Grubel – Bass guitar
Ryan Quarrington – Drums
Artwork by: Aaron Schirmer
There are tons of really good, notable Metal bands that have originated down-under in Australia like Parkway Drive, Destroyer 666, AC/DC, Psycroptic, Mortal Sin, Airbourne, Karnivool, Wolfmother and many others over the years. With a wide variety of styles and sounds, there has apparently never been a shortage of pit worthy music to choose from. With a soul of technical Thrash and Punk, you can now add Alkira to that lauded list…
Formed in 2010, Alkira hails from a small, country town in the Adelaide Hills of Australia called Strathalbyn and has been brutalizing audiences ever since. By 2013, Alkria unleashed Red Devil followed by their Sepultura cover of “Inner Self” featuring Jason North (Truth Corroded), in September of 2014. As a fitting followup to this well received debut and single, Juggernaut dropped in late 2014 to critical and fan accolades everywhere. Having a unique blend of all things Thrash and Hardcore Punk, this young quartet of talented musicians have been tearing up the underground Metal scene with Havok, Lamb of God, Fear Factory, Tankard, Toxic Holocaust, Grave, Municipal Waste, Warbringer, King Parrot along with many other international touring acts from all over the globe for years now. Metal cannot be contained by any natural or country delineations! In 2016, Alkira released their version of Metallica’s “Ride the Lightening” before again entering the studio to record Klotho which released in late 2016 on the Truth Inc R.M.T record label. Recorded at MixMasters Studios and Against the Grain in South Australia, the new album was engineered by Andy Kite, mixed by Erik Rutan (Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse, Hate Eternal) at Mana Recording Studios in St. Petersburg, FL and mastered by Alan Douches (Sepultura, Mastodon, Black Breath) at West West Side in New Windsor, New York, Alkira have set a very high standard for the newest iteration in the long lineage of the Thrash we have all come to know and love over the last thirty some odd years.
Morphing the best of the past with a modern vibe and production have set Alkira apart from most contemporary bands attempting this style of playing. Much of the time this either ends up sounding “old”, pasteurized and sterile or just an artificial hot mess. With a masterful touch, these guys just push all the right buttons, adding their unique take through some of the best hooks available anywhere else on the planet and making everything they do immediately identified as theirs. For example, the opening track “Hospice” has the gritty feel of a very young Exodus and the drive of Garage Days Metallica (albeit a lot faster and a lot less tongue in cheek) while the “Karmaphala” has the furious guitar work and vocal timber of modern bands like Children of Bodom. This thing has a circus of chaos chorus and a destroy-all solo and followup bridge. My favorite song on Klotho is the third track, “A Thalidomide Child”. Catchy as f*ck, I cannot get this damned thing out of my head. It just keeps banging away between my ears! Starting off with a long, instrumental intro that builds into a thick brute of monster, I am left with a big, greasy dent in my wall and a very sore, bruised skull by song’s end. Taking ominous hints from early Slayer and later Exodus, “Gene Supremacy” is easily the most brutal song on the release and attacks like a railroad spike between the eyes. Not very comfortable, but oh, so satisfying! Being half way through the album, “The Null” takes on a completely original tone. Throatier vocals, heavy and very fast tempos, great use of dissonant guitar and bass chords and tons of very interesting and cool changes deeply mark Alkira’s sound into the annals of Modern Metal. Not willing to leave well-enough alone, “Wilted Rose” starts off in a slow, Doom sludge that eventually grows into a furious before we are swallowed by the flame of Alkira’s guitar wizards. Such a bad ass song! Driven by blasting drums, “The Hybrid Horde” follows. Again taking their sound in their own direction, screaming guitars weave a web of steel around the core of molten rhythms. The cagey use of false stops assures that we have no idea where Alkira is going but we know at this point that the endgame is going to be good! Dropping back into old school, Metal Church style intros, “Curse of Clotho” builds into a monolithic tower of lightening gathering power before continuing on to the finale, aptly entitled “The Last Life”. Exploding out of the breach, this track trades old for new with the ever-present Alkira touch from section to section. A memorable chorus stutters screaming, scratching and crawling forward, Doom-style before being relaunched into the lower atmosphere. Dragged back to the dirt, a nod is given to the original Black Sabbath sound before we are thrown back and forth once again. At close, the curtain slowly drops on the song and the album.
Photo by In the Bin Photography
I have to say that this has been one of the most fun albums to listen to and review. Great variety, addictive hooks, bad ass song writing and stellar playing that strikes a unique balance of old vibe with a brilliant, modern take just make Alkira’s Klotho too damned good to pass up. I guess my only complaint is that I can’t turn it up any louder without going deaf…
Tracklist for Klotho:
“Hospice”
“Karmaphala”
“A Thalidomide Child”
“Gene Supremacy”
“The Null”
“Wilted Rose”
“The Hybrid Horde”
“Curse of Clotho”
“The Last Life”
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