Melbourne’s AlithiA have cast their spell on music lovers for over a decade now, delivering a style of progressive tunes that has helped cement the six piece into the halls of genre creationism.
AlithiA give us their second full length the moon has fallen, recorded in Athens, Greece this eight track album takes the listener on a dream state journey…… best buckle up, close your eyes and sink into the sound that AlithiA have become so well known and respected for.
A tell tail sign of a piece of music that the listener can become entranced in is one that is long in length though feels like it’s only a few brief moments of time, opener “The Sun” is captivating to say the least, all preparations to lose oneself in this album are complete. “Empress” ejects with Tibor Gene’s full fuzz bass tone before being summoned by the voice of the founder himself (of AlithiA that is), John Rousvanis, dreamy harmonized vocals fill out and fill up whilst newest member Jeffrey Ortiz Raul Castro brings the percussion and tribal elements to “Empress” mid-way through as the track lifts into the stratosphere.
Second single off of the moon has fallen “Diamonds” blusters in with effect driven Mark ‘Vel’ Vella drums before settling into a more formal structure rhythmically. Filling out with long winded backing vocals and keys by Danny Costantino and Co. “Diamonds” lifts into a powerful vocal “Let it hurt you” that repeats and demands attention. As the journey continues “Blood Moon” offers a retro sci-fi mood that plateaus out into a lengthy emotive track with depths lyrically that knock on the door of honest human anguish and suffering. “Give me just a second to laugh it all away” speaks of supressing ones feelings to continue on living like we all seem to do in the chaos we call life.
“Three Eyes” portrays a haunting and industrial effect with separated key sections and sweeping guitars by Nguyen Phambam. Awoken from dream state by the off kilter time change later in “Three Eyes” deceives a very palatable sound and beat throughout. Taken down a notch “The Knife” enters into a stripped back display of scenery overload, the vocal work from Rousvanis, Costantino and Castro is subtle in every sense of the word. To put it simply it just straight up compliments everything in this track. Truly beautiful.
Heartfelt vibrations ooze through “Breathe”, it’s a known fact: legends of rock from past and present paved and pave the way for what makes a stand out anthem like track. We all know the classics well, if “Breathe” isn’t taken into consideration as a timeless anthem at some point in time then as a species we have lost our ways a little musically. It’s as simple as that, this track is dynamite!
Final track “Faces in the Leaves” rounds out the mood of the moon has fallen seamlessly, all the elements are here. The highs and lows have been experienced, it’s time to wake up and hit the repeat button and experience it all again!
