Alter Self – Seven Deadly Blessings (2013)

Hailing from Athens, Greece today we have Alter Self, a killer Death/Thrash Metal band that delivers eleven punishing tracks on their debut full-length release “Seven Deadly Blessings”. For this release being the band’s debut full-length, their sound is very mature and the songs are perfectly executed. Mixing Thrash and Death Metal, the band achieves a timeless sound that is quite catchy and appealing.

After the traditional intro track, “My Sober Reflection” has a very Sepultura-esque ring to it and it also showcases the band’s ability to craft catchy and brutal songs. The drumming is quite impressive and the guitar work is pretty well crafted, allowing the song to flow naturally. The band’s songs keep getting more and more interesting as the funky riffs/bass guitar sections of “Fovea” make for a very cool track.

The band’s catchiness again makes a very good impression on us with the super awesome “Separation From God”. The band has a knack for crafting cool little sections of melodic brilliance into their songs that elevate their sound considerably. Alter Self does a great job in keeping their tracks fresh and engaging, without falling into the repetitive lameness of most traditional Death/Thrash Metal release.

Even featuring an instrumental track (“Halcyon”), the flow of this release is impeccable and perfectly designed. Our favorite track in the release has to be the dark and moody “Reverie”, by far the best overall song (and longest one) of this release. With excellent musicianship and composition skilles, Alter Self delivers a very solid first full-length that breathes new life into a genre that has been stale for many years.

Overall if you liked skillfully played Death Metal with awesome Thrash influences and killer growls, look no further a pick up a copy of “Seven Deadly Blessings”. For almost 40-minutes Alter Self delivers relentless music that is perfectly executed, we honestly cannot wait for them to get more experience under their belts and deliver even more impressive and diverse music in the future.

Label: NoiseHeard Records

Release: February 22nd, 2013

Genre: Death/Thrash Metal

Country: Greece