Alk-a-line – Species & Specimens (Cheap Satanism Records)

English:CD-review
  Van Muylem    26 augustus 2019

It doesn’t happen much lately (except for the upcoming album from Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio) that I get excited about a new album. This one is like: Wham! Bam! Thank you! Right into the my heart! A cool mix of old and new and a band filled with talented people! No fillers, only hits and that is also the reason why it already stops after 30 minutes!


We already launched the clip for Homo Sapiens: a stomping electro track with an old school touch. It’s a hit, it’s catchy, worked out as it should be and ready for clubland! LaurenceCastelain sings in her best way and heats up the track whilst spitting out the lyrics whilst Sandra Hagenaar does an amazing job on the synths (on the whole album). More dark fun comes with the first duet and it’s none but Peter Slabbynck (Red Zebra): Dark Energy! Once again it has something catchy and feels like a great song to perform on stage. The breakdown launches the more electronic part together with some whispering that gives it a dangerous tone. Seems like the future will endanger us. It’s a bit of Philip K. Dick on music. Boom Boom Dance is exactly what the title says: dance! Dance Dance! Have fun! Enjoy! Party! I really adore the mix between 80’s elements and modern music crafted into a pearl for the clubs and for excellent live performances! Alkaline featuring Bruce Ellison (Volt Selector) sound eclectic, pumped up, electrified with some drum’n bass and a cool duet. Once again they deliver a first class track that will make you sweat and enjoy it to the max! Dogs sounds like how Flesh and Fell should have sounded with Laurence behind the mic: an updated and modern version of the 80’s, fuelled, dangerous and even a bit erotic. The modern elements are really to be cherished, just as the sound! It even feels a bit like innovative (and for most of the bands in the genre it’s something almost impossible to achieve nowadays). Scélérats featuring Jacques Duvall is sung in French and will for sure pleasure the French speaking people in our country. I have to get used to it, but once I’m over it it’s like a slow grower. So listen to it a lot if you don’t like it from the start. At some point it sounds a bit like how J-L De Meyer could sound on this album (it’s not an accident, go on and discover a bit lower).

Black Queen is another hit for the dancefloors and live performances where Laurence is at her top. The beats, the synths, the noise … it all blends in and delivers a huge hit! This is really another WOW momentum! This is Not A Fairy Tale featuring Ross Demon (Length of Time) has been written by J-L De Meyer (Front 242, Cobalt 60, C-Tec, …) and is next to the eclectic feel catchy as hell and yet another hit! I know: it’s almost a best off! Listen to the guitar, the drum’n bass, the noise, … it’s all very cool and exciting! It’s a masterpiece and Ross Demon fit’s in like as if he is born for it (normally his music sounds totally different)! Last track is Human where Sandra Hagenaar has to be mentioned - once again - as the excellent synth women (Toxic Witch). It’s the last bomb! Suddenly the music stops, silence and it hurts! WTF! Where is the repeat all function? There you go! On and on! Listening for hours and hours!

This album is a bomb and I really hope it well get a lot of attention, play time and will attract a lot of fans! Seen the amount of talented people who worked on the album and by now knowing their live feel I really hope they rock the world!

Don't miss the gigs:

  • Saturday, 5 October 2019 from 22:00-06:00
     
  • Place Eugène Simonisplein 18, 1081 Brussels, Belgium
    Afterparty:
    Weird pop with Hatecraft (Club New Wave)
     
    Together with Der Klinke in Brugge:
    Saturday, 12 October 2019 from 18:00-23:00
    Titecastraat 35, 8200 Brugge, Belgium
     
    Together with Red Zebra & De Brassers:
    Saturday, 18 April 2020 from 20:00-23:30
    Magdalenazaal, Magdalenastraat, 8200 Brugge, Belgium
     
    More gigs will be added later on.