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Hailing from Torino in Italy, Alchemy Room is the brain child of guitarist Fabio La Manna who wrote the six songs on offer and then pieced together the rest of the line up to enable him to record debut Origin Of Fear.
The album is a dense mixture of ideas and some of the songs cram in many styles and approaches. The likes of "Waking The Child – part 1", which clocks in at over 14 minutes covers traditional prog, hard riffing neo classical metal, melodic quiet guitar passages and almost ambient moments. Starting off like something you would hear on a recent Marillion album, before you know it we are transported to a sound you would more likely hear on an album by Kamelot before being hit with a riff from the school of Sabbath via a Maidenesque galloping bass line. All the while Irene Mondino tries to maintain some vocal consistency while this genre jumping continues apace and at times the diversity needed to shine on this style of music proves a stretch for her. While she has a strong voice too often it feels at odds with the maelstrom going on behind her and especially in the more aggressive passages her Carol Decker (yes her of T’Pau) like timbre doesn’t quite gel with the music.
There are some excellent, stunning instrumental performances on the album, the trio of La Manna, Bosso and Monge are obviously very accomplished musicians. The standard of playing on the whole album and especially the aforementioned "Waking The Child – part 1", "La Fin Absolue Du Monde", and "Lost" is very impressive and it’s during these moments that Origin Of Fear is at it’s strongest.
Three main weaknesses however continually crop up throughout the album. First and foremost is the production. I know that giving this style of music a classy sound on a low budget is extremely tough, however the snare drum sounds like a wet cardboard box being slapped with a stick and during the heavier, riff driven sections the guitar sound losses it’s attack, almost feeling more like a well produced demo in places. Secondly is the constant style hopping during the same songs, I like eclectic challenging music, however the constant changes feel forced and contrived in places and detract from the overall feel of the songs. A far more focused approach with less chopping and changing would have been much more effective. Lastly is Mondino’s vocals, the lady is a very fine singer, however I’m not convinced she is a perfect match for this style of music, although her performance in the mellower moments is superb.
In no way is Origin Of Fear a bad album, for example the guitar solo on "Waking The Child – part 2" is absolutely first class and throughout each of the songs there are glimpses of the standard a more focused second album could produce.
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