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Alastis
The Other Side
(Century Media - 1997)
In this case the label can help you form an image of their music. Think of heavy riffing from Samael, think of the gothic Moonspell and the doomy Tiamat. But all this isn't enough to describe the music on this album. The sound is dominated by very heavy crunching guitars with slow gothic and simple riffing at times reminiscent of the Gathering. Add to this some ambient yet powerful keyboards that push some incredible weight behind the guitars, oppressing the senses. Crunch and dark ambience together - a unique blend. Superb male vocals accompany the music - either a gritty, sandpaper-coated roar or a gargling, powerful growl or the less often used low spoken voice. The songs are usually short and contain plenty of variety, but usually fail to come to life, with a similar plodding, gothic feel that lacks passion in the music even if the vocals are great.
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