Alkaloid don’t just build worlds. They concoct whole universes.
The European supergroup have written multi-part odes to cosmic Lovecraftian entities and ancient Cephalopods who rise up to rule over the future of the Earth.
Think of their new single as extreme prog. metal’s answer to the Big Bang theory. “The Cambrian Explosion” compresses four billion years of multicellular evolution into mere minutes. Microbes cluster together. Ancient mycelium stir in the grooves of slimy cell walls. Pulsating stenches soar from trenches, thrust into hyper speed by blistering drum chops and colorfully infused riffs that explode like supernovas.
This song was initially written by former guitarist Danny Tunker, who left it as a sort of parting gift. It’s fitting then that it started as a tribute to Alkaloid’s death metal roots. But this band have never stayed put long enough to be classified as just one genre. “The Cambrian Explosion” is littered with surprises. We won’t give everything away. But when the breakdowns hit, just know that you need to be prepared for anything, whether it’s a flair of flamenco or a Stygian choir.
Here’s what Alkaloid have to say about their new single: “Danny left us this song before he quit the band. It started as a tribute to our tech death past, but after some additional mangling by the band, the song became something we’re not sure any longer where it belongs, but which excites us all the more for it. The lyric describes four billion years of evolution of multicellular life in under four minutes. We no longer consider ourselves part of the tech death genre; in fact we never did. But we always embrace musical extravaganzas, and felt that this insane little missile of a track as a nod to both where we came from musically and to Danny’s importance in this band in the past fits perfectly in between our other new songs on the album. As luck would have it, we were able to include a passage with a gospel choir directed by Sara Robalo, and managed to include a few other spontaneous and unexpected twists in the spur of the moment. Enjoy!”
The video for “The Cambrian Explosion” was created using Midjourney, an AI image generator. Watch it HERE.
‘Numen’ is out September 15 on Season of Mist. Pre-order the album HERE. Pre-save the album HERE.
