AN ATMOSPHERIC METAL DOUBLE-SHOT FOR A RAINY DAY: ALKAHEST AND ROSETTA

Sometimes you’re just in that place where you wanna zone out and just let the metal wash over you instead of beckoning you to bang your head. Perhaps it’s raining and you want something slower and more fitting for the mood, or perhaps you’re stoned and just want to relax. Maybe you even (gasp!) prefer your metal to be awash in atmospherics and soundscapes instead of subjecting your eardrums to constant pummeling, blast beats and over-compression. If you fall into any of those categories, I highly recommend:

• Alkahest: Self-described “doom/stoner/psych/post/metal” goodness from Brooklyn, Alkahest take the best parts of all of the aforementioned sub-genres and blend them together into a cohesive whole. Unlike so many other bands, Alkahest are able to strike the perfect balance of recording quality / production and raw grit on their “Demo EP,” which, although it’s only 3 songs, is nearly half an hour of music that would stand quite strongly on its own as an EP without the word “Demo” attached to it. Can’t wait to see these guys live around town. Download their Demo EP for free!
• Rosetta: Not that Rosetta will be new to most of you, but they’re worth mentioning now because these atmospheric metallers have a new album called A Determinism of Morality coming out on May 25th. As is so often the case with records on Translation Loss this release seems woefully under-promoted, but fortunately a press release recently landed in the MS inbox announcing its pending arrival. Rosetta have their own unique flavor but they’re cut from the same cloth as Alkahest, and the excellent new song “Resolve” — up for streaming on Rosetta’s MySpace page — shows the band at their best, from dreamy and light to dark and heavy all in the span of a 7-minute journey.

-VN