Tracks: Underwater: 6:08, Turtle Soup: 5:56, On The Very Day: 5:07, Sick Seekers: 6:28, Leaving Future (pt 1.): 2:46, Leaving Future (pt 2.): 6:18, Within My Prism: 6:32, First Person Dreamer: 5:25, Different Looks: 5:21, Inner pulse: 5:24, My Eyes: 8:00
More Info: Unicorn Records, Alchemy Web Site
Verdict (& Rating): Jazz Fusion meets Prog Metal (70%)
Alkemy were formed during the summer of 2000 and are based in Bordeaux, France. They consist of Aurélien Budynek (guitars), Lionel Bertrand (drums), Aurélie Martin (keyboards) and Philippe Sifre (bass). Their influences range from Dream Theater, Queensrÿche to Chick Corea Elektric Band, Miles Davis or Pat Metheny Group. From that list of influences, it won't come as any surprise that their ambition is to fuse progressive metal and jazz fusion.
"Underwater" is an uptempo beginning that sounds like a progressive version of Talisman, mainly due to the bass playing. From the description above you might have been expecting an instrumental album, but Alkemy keep things from getting too introspective by having vocals to provide a structure to their tracks. Having said that, the next track, "Turtle Soup", is an instrumental with some heavy prog metal riffing (ala Dream Theater) and slick jazz fusion soloing. "On The Very Day" has a jazz funk vibe with occassional heavier riffs 'adding colour' rather than dominating.
On "Sick Seekers" and "Leaving Future" (Parts 1 & 2) there is an oppressive dark feeling to the music. "Within My Prism" highlights that the vocals on the album fall into the OK category, but don't meet the high standards of musicianship."First Person Dreamer" is a chill out slower number. If King's X decided to 'do prog-metal' they might produce something sounding like "Different Looks". On "Inner Pulse" the band let their jazz fusion hair down and give us a surprising listenable instrumental. "My Eyes" is the expected 8:00 m:s 'epic' that meanders and weaves it way through a number of different styles and tempos to conclude the album.
When I first started to write this review, I was all set to comment how Alkemy had taken Progressive Metal and given it a twist by adding elements of Jazz Fusion. However, now I'm more inclined to switch it around - Jazz Fusion with a twist of Progressive Metal. I think that description works better and I certainly got a btter overall impression of the album when I approached it from that viewpoint.
