Alchera – Era

Releasedate: 13-05-2011; Label: Bret Hard Records
By: Sabine van Gameren

German Death metal formation Alchera has been formed in 1996. The band have released several small releases through the years but their album “Era” can be seen as their debut, bringing their musical efforts further out in Europe.

Alchera has a melodic approach of Death Metal. Obviously they got some Swedish influences although the band has a stronger tendency towards the Death Metal than you might expect. The strongest part of the band comes from the vocals, especially in the grunts. The go quite deep and this gives the band some extra strong body. Less interesting is the guitar part, which appears a bit thin and maybe not the most original riffing in here. This comes with quite a lack of variation. Means that the album gets a bit boring after a while. “Era” is an album what comes out after various years of releasing small promo’s etc, which may have brought the impression that the band has collected a lot of material through the years and the selection of it that ended up at “Era”. Maybe it is just a matter of expectations, but the actual results are a bit disappointing in the end. It’s not a bad album, it has its moments, but it could have been more than what it is now.

Line up:
Marc Prangenberg – Vocals
Daniel Schulz – Guitar
Joschka Prangenberg – Guitar
Karl Witzmann – Guitar
Jörg Wendt – Bass
Mirco Pinkert – Drums

Tracklist: 01. Lokasenna 02. In Darkness 03. Beginning of Days 04. Misanthropy 05. Dead End 06. Elysiums Asche 07. Vlokuslak 08. Ghul 09. Ulfhednar 10. Melkor 11. Rune 12. Fraass 13. Bauchfleisch

Links:
Alchera MySpace