• New Music Reviews
• |
• Archives
• |
• News
• |
• Submissions
• |
• About
• |
• 
• |
• 

January 2025

• The Big Deal: Electrified
• Landfall: Wide Open Sky

December 2024

• After Lapse: Pathways
• Illusion Force: Halfana
• Powell-Payne: Voilá

November 2024

• Sunstorm: Restless Fight
• Storace: Crossfire
• Voodoo Circle: Hail To The King
• Lionville: Supernatural
• Starchaser: Into The Great Unkown
• Empires Of Eden: Guardians Of Time
• Lonerider: Down In The Dust
• Seventh Crystal: Entity
• Neal Morse & The Resonance: No Hill For A Climber
• Beardfish: Songs For Beating Hearts
• Impellitteri: War Machine
• Brothers Of Metal: Fimbulvinter

October 2024

• Casandra's Crossing: Garden Of Earthly Delights
• DGM: Endless
• Daytona: Garder la Flamme
• Fate: Reconnect 'N Ignite
• Frost*: Life In The Wires
• Aries Descendant: From The Ashes Of Deceit
• Fans Of The Dark: Video
• Radioactive: Reset
• House Of Lords: Full Tilt Overdrive
• Cleanbreak: We Are The Fire

September 2024

• Sinner's Blood: Dark Horizons
• Serious Black: Rise Of Akhenaton
• Eclipse: Megalomanium II
• SteelCity: Reverence
• Hydra: ReHydrated
• Heartwind: III
• Gabrielle De Val and the Dragonlords: Tiger
• Find Me: Nightbound
• The Nail: The Nail
• Timeless Fairytale: A Story To Tell
• Stryper: When We Were Kings
• Phil Mogg: Moggs Motel
• Pure Reason Revolution: Coming Up To Consciousness
• Jordan Rudess: Permission To Fly

[ More Music Reviews ]

Alpha Tiger: Identity

Heavy/Power Metal

3.5/5.0

Website Facebook Twitter YouTube
SPV/Steamhammer Records
Words: Craig Hartranft
Added: 08.01.2015

Germany's Alpha Tiger enters the heavy metal ring for a third round with Identity. What began as a more than subtle throwback to the early days of classic heavy and power metal, maybe with a touch of Queensryche, has been personalized and solidified by the band.

Alpha Tiger

Overall, Identity is a blistering album, boasting some of Alpha Tiger's heaviest and sharpest riffs backed by an even more bracing rhythm section. These remain wrapped up in noticeable melody and adequate vocal harmonies. The dilemma with the latter is that Stephan Dietrich's voice is often overwhelmed in every song, especially the more heavy and intense ones like Lady Liberty or the title track. Even within the heavy ballad Closer To Yesterday you can barely understand him. Perhaps it's not even the mix, but Dietrich's enunciation, his ability to sing clearly, which is the problem. Alternatively, within the quite catchy, groove-laden, and strongest song of the bunch, Long Way of Redemption, his voice is somewhat stronger.

The aforementioned Closer To Yesterday is also an example of Alpha Tiger stretching their boundaries by adding some more reserved moments along with a piano line. There's a similar breakdown in the later third of This World Will Burn with light acoustic guitar and drums. Mostly, though, the album is heavy and hardcharging with the riffage ruling the day and the leads flying like so many sparks, with rhythm section keeping the intensity at a fervent level. If not for Alpha Tiger's inherent sense of melody and harmony, this album could come off as something close to modern metal harshness. But, thankfully, not. In the end, excepting maybe the title track which struggles to develop, there is something for the 'true' heavy metal fan to discover and enjoy in each song, which makes Identity definitely worth exploring.

ALPHA TIGER - We Won`t Take It Anymore (official video)

Note: All Amazon advertising in this review first benefits the artist, then Craig Hartranft also receives a residual. Click, and thanks for your support.

For third effort, Identity, Alpha Tiger keeps their heavy/power metal on course with sharp and heavy riffage, bolstered by a tough rhythm section, and then tempered by their sense of melody and harmony.

Alphabetical Index

The Powell Payne project, created in 2022 is the collaboration of Mark "Penfold Powell (ex-drummer of Psycho Kiss) and Adam Payne (former vocalist of Airrace). With guitarist Adam Davies and keyboard player ... [ Read More ]