Alpha Tiger
Alpha Tiger
SPV/Steamhammer
2017
Alpha Tiger is a band from Saxony that for some reason seemed to be getting traction after a bunch of releases despite being a second rate, retro sounding band with semi-decent ideas and a singer with a very annoying pitch and timbre, the loss of which, a couple of years ago led them to hiring a new kid by the name of Benjamin Jaino and thus a certain move into a more modern direction. Also, the rather “clean” plastic production is now succeeded by a keyboard heavy, demo like, organic one that however sounds quite muddy and lacking in power.
Jaino is a more melodic singer than his predecessor, with a timbre that’s nicer, but not quite the same power or exacting range. Thus, where before the whole thing sounded like a bad mix of Helloween and Artch era Fates, now you can also add Trivium to the equation, but without the production values and there’s even a song, “Aurora”, in specific, in which the borrow a melody from one of the Slipknot ballad like songs, “Snuff”, which would have otherwise sucked without that “loan”.
I mean other than that there are a couple of “decent” songs like “Feather in the Wind” and “Welcome to Devil’s Town” and the odd decent idea here or there; gone is the AFM and Century Media support and it’s highly unlikely that these guys will be supported by the “true” metal, underground now that they “turned” even though their bad production and nasal vocals might aid them. Probably this will be their tombstone, although it would be interesting to be proven wrong by these “Beta Cubs”. They should take a cue from bands like Walpyrgus on how to pull this “right” and lay of the “nu” stuff to avoid losing their “true” cred they’ve been building for such a long time…
Jaino is a more melodic singer than his predecessor, with a timbre that’s nicer, but not quite the same power or exacting range. Thus, where before the whole thing sounded like a bad mix of Helloween and Artch era Fates, now you can also add Trivium to the equation, but without the production values and there’s even a song, “Aurora”, in specific, in which the borrow a melody from one of the Slipknot ballad like songs, “Snuff”, which would have otherwise sucked without that “loan”.
I mean other than that there are a couple of “decent” songs like “Feather in the Wind” and “Welcome to Devil’s Town” and the odd decent idea here or there; gone is the AFM and Century Media support and it’s highly unlikely that these guys will be supported by the “true” metal, underground now that they “turned” even though their bad production and nasal vocals might aid them. Probably this will be their tombstone, although it would be interesting to be proven wrong by these “Beta Cubs”. They should take a cue from bands like Walpyrgus on how to pull this “right” and lay of the “nu” stuff to avoid losing their “true” cred they’ve been building for such a long time…