Review Summary: What do they know? Stuff. It’s a secret. Sshhh!
I’ve been looking for new, interesting music. Wherever I turn, I keep encountering these metal bands that mix heavy pop/r&b elements in their concoctions. On paper, it’s a mix that should work but I keep ending up dissatisfied. I’m a little tired of them, though I’m admittedly picky about pop. Pop peaked with Britney Spears so it’s difficult to evolve from that. I realize that might be a hot take and I don’t care, frankly.
Alchemize straight up sounds like Maroon 5 with riffs, and something about that doesn’t sit right. When those compressed guitar melodies come in, they sure do mix with the equally over produced sung vocals. The hooks come in like cotton candy, easily digestible, and gone all of a sudden. Bringing in gut wrenching djent guitar and drum punches can sound rather out of place in certain tracks, though. Bad Motives works better, but that track is more overdone type modern metal that every metalcore band has sounded like for the past ten years. As long as there’s a clean chorus and some deep chugs it’s metal, correct? I don’t know about that, man. Sometimes it barely sounds like guitar music.
Another band that will most certainly be forgotten. There are so many bands like this, and though there’s some nice hooks and melodies in this EP, I’m struggling to see who would pick this over Dead By April, for example. It’s more of the same. These extremely overdone auto-tuned vocals are not that extra “metal” either. Growls are here to break the repetition occasionally, but it’s always back to a nice, light chorus to ease you into their vodka milkshake type experience.
There’s definitely an audience that’ll drink this stuff up but it’s not really for me. Their emotional center feels tossed aside for bringing some quick hooks and shiny sounds. If that’s all you like, there’s plenty of that. It’s like a candy shop of that. Perhaps more tracks would’ve created a more interesting package overall. There’s room for experimenting, and the additional DJ scratches are a cool trick. That’s all the “substance” you get, if variety is the substance craved. This EP may leave you hungry.
