Uploaded October 2018 | Updated September 2026, 47 minutes ago
Alchem is a band that's been on my radar for a while. Since about 2015 in fact. The first time I heard them, I had just discovered them in routine perusals of Metal Archives, looking for different bands to listen to that were quite obscure. This was a band that marketed themselves as a gothic/progressive metal band, and while they didn't immediately catch my interest I soon found them quite fascinating, as well as quite hard to find much information about. Even when I tried to get ahold of this album in mid-2018, I had trouble finding their bandcamp page. It's almost as if the band is sort of intentionally reclusive, and trying not to be too noticable. Then again, there's nothing wrong with that: In fact, it adds to the aura of mystique the band has established over the years. But regardless, the first song I heard from them was Le Cose in Bilico, which translates to "Things in the Balance" in Italian. It's a beautiful song that only pulled me deeper into the band's mystique and the aura it saught to create. But still I found it hard to find any of this band's releases or any information about them. Even when they released an EP in 2016, I couldn't find a single copy of it. It's only now in 2018 that I found the bandcamp that this album was released through.
Enter Viaggo Al Centro Della Terra, literally "Journey to the Centre of the Earth". Alchem, for reference, is a band that definately embodies its name: A reference to alchemy. Alchemy centres quite a lot around the idea of turning base metals into valuable gold, and this album in particular seems to centre its themes around the elements; For instance songs like Spirits of the Air and the title track, or even Armour of Ice and Pioggia D'agosto (Rain in August). But instead of simply saying the album is purely spiritual (I think that'd be slightly pretentious), the music itself has an almost ritualistic vibe to it. The opener to the album, Behind the Door, isn't really metal, but rather a brooding, rainy gothic rock track, the guitars strewn across the reverb-touched, spacious track with its comfortingly melancholic melody. On the other hand, Spirits of the Air is most definately a metal track, and one of my favourites off the album, while still retaining an air of mysticism and light that doesn't even nearly dip into pretension or lack of self awareness. Don't let that make you think that these guys are just here to make art rather than metal: They can fucking rock, and they can knock their well-known 'gothic' contemporaries out of the park, while at the same time artistically creating a progressive, dark, yet warm atmosphere. Perhaps I sound corny when I say this, but I mean it; Alchem, with Viaggo Al Centro Della Terra, have made pure alchemy happen, and turned metal into gold.
I DO NOT OWN ALCHEM OR ANY OF THE MUSIC ON MY CHANNEL. ALL MUSIC IS SUBJECT TO FAIR USE AND ALCHEM'S COPYRIGHT, AND WILL BE TAKEN DOWN UPON REQUEST.
Buy Viago Al Centro Della Terra at Bandcamp here:
hellbonesrecords.bandcamp.com/album/alchem-viaggio-al-centro-della-terra
Alchem is a band that's been on my radar for a while. Since about 2015 in fact. The first time I heard them, I had just discovered them in routine perusals of Metal Archives, looking for different bands to listen to that were quite obscure. This was a band that marketed themselves as a gothic/progressive metal band, and while they didn't immediately catch my interest I soon found them quite fascinating, as well as quite hard to find much information about. Even when I tried to get ahold of this album in mid-2018, I had trouble finding their bandcamp page. It's almost as if the band is sort of intentionally reclusive, and trying not to be too noticable. Then again, there's nothing wrong with that: In fact, it adds to the aura of mystique the band has established over the years. But regardless, the first song I heard from them was Le Cose in Bilico, which translates to "Things in the Balance" in Italian. It's a beautiful song that only pulled me deeper into the band's mystique and the aura it saught to create. But still I found it hard to find any of this band's releases or any information about them. Even when they released an EP in 2016, I couldn't find a single copy of it. It's only now in 2018 that I found the bandcamp that this album was released through.
Enter Viaggo Al Centro Della Terra, literally "Journey to the Centre of the Earth". Alchem, for reference, is a band that definately embodies its name: A reference to alchemy. Alchemy centres quite a lot around the idea of turning base metals into valuable gold, and this album in particular seems to centre its themes around the elements; For instance songs like Spirits of the Air and the title track, or even Armour of Ice and Pioggia D'agosto (Rain in August). But instead of simply saying the album is purely spiritual (I think that'd be slightly pretentious), the music itself has an almost ritualistic vibe to it. The opener to the album, Behind the Door, isn't really metal, but rather a brooding, rainy gothic rock track, the guitars strewn across the reverb-touched, spacious track with its comfortingly melancholic melody. On the other hand, Spirits of the Air is most definately a metal track, and one of my favourites off the album, while still retaining an air of mysticism and light that doesn't even nearly dip into pretension or lack of self awareness. Don't let that make you think that these guys are just here to make art rather than metal: They can fucking rock, and they can knock their well-known 'gothic' contemporaries out of the park, while at the same time artistically creating a progressive, dark, yet warm atmosphere. Perhaps I sound corny when I say this, but I mean it; Alchem, with Viaggo Al Centro Della Terra, have made pure alchemy happen, and turned metal into gold.
I DO NOT OWN ALCHEM OR ANY OF THE MUSIC ON MY CHANNEL. ALL MUSIC IS SUBJECT TO FAIR USE AND ALCHEM'S COPYRIGHT, AND WILL BE TAKEN DOWN UPON REQUEST.
Buy Viago Al Centro Della Terra at Bandcamp here:
hellbonesrecords.bandcamp.com/album/alchem-viaggio-al-centro-della-terra
