Published: February 9, 2014

The four remaining members of Texas based Nethermost, who began as a five piece, formed in 2009 and laid dormant until the release of their EP Alpha in 2012. The band have recently been taken in by Hypnotic Dirge Records who have re-released their debut and singular album appearance in 2013. The album is said to be a tribute to the elements and that it offers up deep and obscure timelessness. How does this infusion of melodic death metal and doom metal mix together?

Alpha is a medium tempo album from start to finish that never fluctuates in pace. Uninspiringly, the material sounds the exact same from one track to another in both instrument composition and vocal attributes. The guitarist manages to make it through the entire soundtrack without much more than one string, let alone any power or regular chords. The lone string being picked, which sounds to be either the D or A string, has a minuscule area that it traverses on the fret board; typically traveling from the range of frets seven through fourteen, maybe even stopping as high as twelve. The picks are usually played in sets of eight before moving to another fret and repeating the same; nearly every guitar section is made up of eight notes in one way or another.

The bass is entirely programmed as the band currently do not have an active bassist. Surprisingly the bass is the best feature of the album, and it stands out among the other instruments with it's deep lines that step slightly above the mediocre pace of the rest of the components. The drums, akin to the guitar, like to rest on the same beats for prolonged periods of time, exhausting them until it's time to add in a drum roll and go back to the same beat; such as the never ending crash symbols and bass kick mixture in "Tower of the Winds". The vocals, made up of harsh and unrefined growls, belt out in two to four word lyrical increments through each of the four tracks present.

Everything within Alpha needs major improvement. There have been references to bands such as Katatonia, My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost, however those bands deviate in their musical compositions. This album, regrettably, shows inexperience in it's immensely repetitive nature; so much to the point that it's easy to guess what the next track will hold down to the number of times the guitar hits a note before switching frets. The next album for Nethermost will need to show established skill, better compositions, more than one tempo and more influential vocals.