Alpha Tiger
Beneath the Surface
Century Media
2013
The last years, there has been a huge retro heavy/speed metal back turn, from new bands especially that are trying to resurrect (?) or just mimic the 80s metal era… I really can’t easily tell. The question here is, do we actually need this kind of “old-fashioned” wannabe bands? What do they offer us in the end? The music must go on, in my opinion, while taking all the good elements from the previous eras… but it should be going ahead… never turning back. Honestly, if I want to hear some pure 80s metal, I’ll have to put on an 80s band! Wow! Was it so hard to think of, huh?!
Anyway, having said that, Alpha Tiger are offering some old-school, old-fashioned, dated heavy/speed metal music on their sophomore release. There’s nothing wrong with that, if you bypass the above-mentioned reasons of course. I strongly believe that no band of our time can equal the 80s bands… so simple. Not even the 80s metal bands cannot do that today! They can’t even compete themselves! It’s good to honor your roots but it ain’t good at all to “copy-paste” the looks, the attitude and the music of the 80s. That’s catastrophic in my opinion.
Alpha Tiger have learned their 80s lessons well. They are inspired by bands like: Maiden, Exciter, Agent Steel, Cloven Hoof, Grim Reaper, Tokyo Blade & Heavy Load among others. They play well, they wanna sound like the bands of that time… even the production is a bit “dated”, the singer is copycatting both the good & the bad 80s singers but the whole thing is just out-of-date for me. If I look at my CD-Vinyl collection I’ll find hundreds (not to say thousands) of 80s metal bands that are the real deal and Alpha Tiger are bowing to them every single minute. The same goes for all those 70s hard rock bands that suddenly remembered & started imitating bands like Led Zeppelin, Bad Company and so forth. I just don’t get it. Most of the young fans haven’t even heard of various significant 80s/70s bands but they can say that the newer copycats are great, super-duper and other things with no trouble. How’s that?! Un-freakin’-believable! The bottom-line is that Alpha Tiger are OK, but I’ll take any band (even the mediocre ones) from the 80s over them any time and day… I’m sure they will do just the same as well…
Anyway, having said that, Alpha Tiger are offering some old-school, old-fashioned, dated heavy/speed metal music on their sophomore release. There’s nothing wrong with that, if you bypass the above-mentioned reasons of course. I strongly believe that no band of our time can equal the 80s bands… so simple. Not even the 80s metal bands cannot do that today! They can’t even compete themselves! It’s good to honor your roots but it ain’t good at all to “copy-paste” the looks, the attitude and the music of the 80s. That’s catastrophic in my opinion.
Alpha Tiger have learned their 80s lessons well. They are inspired by bands like: Maiden, Exciter, Agent Steel, Cloven Hoof, Grim Reaper, Tokyo Blade & Heavy Load among others. They play well, they wanna sound like the bands of that time… even the production is a bit “dated”, the singer is copycatting both the good & the bad 80s singers but the whole thing is just out-of-date for me. If I look at my CD-Vinyl collection I’ll find hundreds (not to say thousands) of 80s metal bands that are the real deal and Alpha Tiger are bowing to them every single minute. The same goes for all those 70s hard rock bands that suddenly remembered & started imitating bands like Led Zeppelin, Bad Company and so forth. I just don’t get it. Most of the young fans haven’t even heard of various significant 80s/70s bands but they can say that the newer copycats are great, super-duper and other things with no trouble. How’s that?! Un-freakin’-believable! The bottom-line is that Alpha Tiger are OK, but I’ll take any band (even the mediocre ones) from the 80s over them any time and day… I’m sure they will do just the same as well…