Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Alpha Tiger
Label: SPV Records
Release: 2015
Running time: 49:35
Rating: 3.5/5
For anyone who missed the Metaldays festival grounds in Tolmin on July 24, 2014, here’s a quick heads-up: Alpha Tiger, who played Slovenia that day, are German heavy metal revivalists from Freiburg. The new studio album, »Identity«, is their third, released just under four years after their debut. The band has been around since 2007, so they’re no rookies, though it was only in 2011 that they renamed themselves from Satin Black to Alpha Tiger.
On the third album, Alpha Tiger are again working with an unchanged lineup. The defining trait of the new record is trimmed-down instrumental passages (intros, outros, middle sections). The songs have gotten shorter and more compact, and the band gets to the heart of the matter faster. Once again, Alpha Tiger draw inspiration from the gains of the NWOBHM (Tytan, Blitzkrieg, Tokyo Blade…), while also leaning on the old-school heavy/speed metal legacy of a whole phalanx of American bands (Glacier, Argus, Xaliber, Chastain, Griffin, Attacker…) who, with the exception of Riot (whose influence is clearly felt), developed as a response to the NWOBHM movement. At the same time, it almost goes without saying that in Alpha Tiger you hear the old-school sound of metal bands from the old continent, led by Germany’s Helloween (in the early days of their career), Scanner, Brainfever, Stormwitch, Tyrant and Belgium’s Ostrogoth. A fair few noticeably ambitious new-generation bands have been popping up in recent years, building on the legacy of eighties heavy metal. Alpha Tiger keep company with the likable output of acts like Steelwing, Enforcer and White Wizzard, among others. Each of them approaches the recycling a bit differently and tries to breathe at least a sliver of its own identity into forms we’ve already heard. Of course, all these comparisons should be taken with a grain of salt. Next to the classic bands of the metal pioneering era listed above, Alpha Tiger are ultra-melodic, instantly infectious »pretty boys« who are also considerably less angry and far less caustically arrogant.
Alpha Tiger are a crew of musicians who deliver outstanding playing. The album’s production is likably rough around the edges, packaged in a slightly dirty garage style, and it pecks away with a lively dynamic. The quintet clicks in their playing and in getting their ideas across, and they brim with the urge to prove themselves and a surplus of creative energy. In a poetic sense, »Identity« touches on rebellion against conformity, against the monstrous machinery of groupthink that the merciless hand of a Big Brother conspiracy is trying to shove us into. Even the intro, a snippet of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, warns that the album will talk about the delusions of the destructive logic of neoliberalism, wielded by the black ties in Brussels. Find your identity, find yourself, find your mission in today’s world, and hold on to that freedom! These days that has become a true doctrine, one that only the strongest and the purest of heart manage to put into practice. It can be a real state of bliss, right? Or a curse. Depends on which angle you look at the same thing from. Either way, you’re a rebel, a danger to the system, its glitch. That’s the kind of subject matter Alpha Tiger wrestle with on the new album.
Vocalist Stephan Dietrich is a spitting image of eighties Michael Kiske (Unisonic, ex-Helloween). His voice can also pull toward the vocal delivery of Tony Moore (Riot), but the closest association remains Michael Kiske. The opening Lady Liberty makes that clear right away; it’s also the lead single from the band’s self-titled EP released in 2014. It’s one of the best compositions on the album and, alongside tracks like the later Long Way to Redemption and/or Revolution in Progress, carries the biggest share of old-school metal inspiration. There’s a certain naivety that can grate, brought in by singer Stephan Dietrich’s vocal eagerness, as he occasionally tries to fill nearly every transitional gap with his voice. It gets especially annoying when he starts to »whimper« at the end of the verse melodies or tacks on melody with simple »Oh-oh« chants (Shut Up & Think, This World Will Burn, Closer Than Yesterday). Despite the crew’s exceptional dedication to their craft (Alpha Tiger are definitely grafters), you can feel that at these points the band lacks songwriting experience and is a bit too quick to be satisfied with what it comes up with. Another sign that there are still creative reserves left to tap is the short gap between its predecessor »Beneath the Surface« and the new album: barely a year and a half passed between them. The title track is a cross with »breakdown« aesthetics, which the worldwide horde of metalcore bands handle far better, grafted onto the eighties old school, and its naive songwriting somewhat spoils the picture of a unified musical vision behind the band’s revivalism. Still, »Identity« is a bold, solid effort from impetuous youngsters who don’t hide an excellent feel for combining punch, virtuoso playing and highly infectious lead motifs. »Identity« is the album with which Alpha Tiger cement their status on the European metal scene. But going forward, the band will definitely have to spit in their hands and eat a few more bowls of žganci to reach their creative zenith, and above all learn patience in the process of creating and composing.
Besides the standard »jewel case« format, the album »Identity« can also be bought on vinyl and even in an expanded (strictly limited) »digipack« edition with a bonus DVD featuring the band’s complete live set at the German festival Bang Your Head!!! in 2013.
Lineup
Stephan Dietrich – vocals
Peter Langforth – guitar
Alexander Backasch – guitar
Dirk Frei – bass
David Schleif – drums
Production
Alpha Tiger
Track list
1. Intro (00:43)
2. Lady Liberty (04:14)
3. Scripted Reality (06:21)
4. Long Way Of Redemption (05:54)
5. Identity (05:52)
6. We Won`t Take It Anymore (04:31)
7. Revolution In Progress (05:05)
8. Closer Than Yesterday (04:54)
9. Shut Up & Think (04:31)
10. This World Will Burn (07:21)
