Now this is a scorcher. Alkhemia is a gnarled new French black metal band emerging froom Lille, a city known for a long history of excellent metal. Their debut album, Abraxas is a stunning offering, a record that seems to tie into so many of the core elements of a side of the genre shaped by artists like Mgla and Naglfar and execute upon them with aplomb. While Alkhemia aren't reinventing the steal, this is definitely a top notch black metal release and one that fans of the French black metal scene are going to find particularly enticing.
Abraxas is a scorcher. There is something wonderfully undeniable about the bands work, the vision is pointed, the band is clear about their sound from the first, but it's the execution on these ideas that sets them apart. The burning fire that you hear on songs like "Primaveal Pantheon" is inherently enticing and speaks to a band that is going to continue to fight back against modernity. There is something potent about the atavistic vision of the band and their Orwellian vision on man and the sinister effects of industrialization. The fact that they can do this with blast beats and tremolo picking speaks to their capacity as songwriters.
Alkhemia have a deep understanding of what it means to make black metal and their traditional take on the genre is compelling. You can tell the guys in this band have been through other projects but also that this is a labor of love. Alkhemia have managed to set themselves apart and Abraxas is going to thrill listeners of all stripes as they dig ever deeper into the madness of what has been created here. This is black metal that lifts up the French scene with it and has me curious to hear more from these wonderful blasphemers against modernity.
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