Review: Alterium – Of War And Flames

Napalm Records (March 3^rd 2024)

Reviewer: Jason Hopper

Alterium is a new band hailing from Italy and is led by lead singer Nicoletta Rosellin, who formed the band along with two other members from her former band Kalidia. Although the press release states they are a power metal band, her vocal stylings also lean the band in the direction of symphonic metal. I checked out the title track on YouTube, found them to be similar to bands like Delain and Ad Infinitum, and decided to review their album.

What I found is an album that has some solid tracks but is lacking in the melody department and begins to lose steam towards the end. The first few tracks are exactly what I would expect from a symphonic power metal band. Predictability is not bad when the music is as solid as the start of this album. Ms. Rosellin has a voice that is soft and sultry but projects well to match the power of the music. Opener ‘Drag Me to Hell’ starts with an old school Dragonforce feel, with maximum speed, but then slows slightly in tempo while still maintaining a lot of energy. There are some progressive elements in play as evidenced by the syncopation after the second chorus, before returning to the main beat. Some interesting dynamics in play.

Track 2’s ‘Siren’s Call’ was the first single and is the most commercial track.  It’s straight forward with only two different tempo changes between the verses and chorus.  I dig a melodic approach with a symphonic feel, so this track is a winner for me.  A hard driving melody with Ms. Rosellin’s voice gliding elegantly over the rhythm.

The title track is next and is very representative of most of the tracks on this album. There’s a lot of elements at play, a solo piano intro leading into a double bass blast following that same rhythm, and various time changes for the verses, bridge, and chorus. While it’s a solid song, what holds this and several other songs back from being great is the derivativeness of the riff.

There is an overreliance of incessant palm muting on the E string from guitarists Paolo Campitelli and Alessandro Mammola. It grows monotonous over time.  Variety in the melody would have gone a long way to elevating this track. A lot of the heavy lifting is done by the keyboardist, who creates many of the melody lines. Strangely enough, while the keyboards are front and center, the press release does not say who is playing the keyboards and the band does not have a keyboardist as a member.  Very odd.

As stated earlier, the album loses momentum with Track 7’s ‘Crystaline’, the sole ballad on the album. While Ms. Rosellin sounds great (as she does on most of the tracks), the song does not seem to get out of first gear. Towards the middle I was hoping there would be more as I was tempted to fast forward to the next song. Alas, it ends in almost the same way it started.  Next track ‘Heroine of the Sea’ makes the same mistake. While it has a faster rhythm, it maintains that rhythm throughout which renders the song redundant and listless.  Things do get back on track with ‘Chasing the Sun’ which captures the energy of the first half of the album and has effective changeups. However, the band drops the ball once again with the Sabaton cover ‘Bismarck’. You need a certain vibrato in the vocals if you’re going to cover such a powerful track. While Nicoletta Rosellin has a great voice, she does not have enough “umph” to match the original. The band also sticks so close to the original sound and tone that it sounds like they just took the song from Sabaton and replaced singer Joakim Brodén with Nicoletta.

While I wish this band well, they need to add some more dynamics to their sound to make them stand out from all the other bands. They utilize progressive elements and have interesting structures to some tracks but rely too much on basic guitar strumming that grows boring the longer the album continues. Hopefully they can grow as a band and develop their sound further.

Tracklist:

1. Drag Me to Hell
2. Siren’s Call
3. Of War and Flames
4. Firebringer
5. Crossroads Inn
6. Shadowsong
7. Crystaline
8. Heroine of the Sea
9. Chasing the Sun
10. Bismarck (Sabaton Cover)