Alpha Omega – Alpha Omega.

At Bloodstock Open Air Festival, Saturday, August 12th 2018 on the Jagermeister Stage, Norwich based trio Alpha Omega played one of the most intense and loud sets I’ve heard in the ten years I’ve been going there. The Orange amps must have been made of sterner stuff than my hearing as they tore through their set to a huge crowd. So could they harness that power in the studio for their self titled debut album? Hell yeah they have!

Eleven tracks fly by in less than half an hour in a blur of punk tinged metal, point proven by opener ‘Witches Burn At Dawn’. It takes no prisoners from the off as an unrelenting gnarly fist fight in the pub car park is the best way to describe their delivery of pummeling thrash metal. ‘Blackbird Sings’ is a warp speed journey of snapping snares and finger bleeding riffing. ‘Forest Of Hanged Men’ is a jackboot heavy stomp, a beat that grabs you and throws you in the corner after two brutal minutes. ‘Mechanical Heart’ sees this heart beating out of its chest on a flowing delivery of multi tempo riffs akin to Hell Awaits era Slayer. The brief body blow intro for ‘Human Remains’ leads to a turbulent turbocharger of rage. Its point is hammered home by the bludgeoning midsection and unnerving chorus of “Tell me, what is left, when the skin is peeled back”. Riffs slash and flay like forty lashes throughout ‘Field Of Skulls’ as this short, sharp pit opener contains more skin crawling lyrics, as does ‘Milwaukee’. Based on serial killer Jeffery Dahmer, its full on death metal velocity with a chorus of “I open the chest and look inside. The secrets within you cannot hide. Crack the ribcage and pull it apart. Keep you forever and eat the heart”.

Undulating grooves drive along ‘Harrowing Of Hell’ as snares snap like angry dogs with the riffs at their most potent. We delve further back in time as ‘Horns Of Hattin’ tells of a battle in 1187 in the Holy land as muslim fighters killed many Christian soldiers and all of the knights Templar. A first verse of “Hacking, slashing and goring begins. War horns scream an infernal din. Cries of the cleaved muted by death” portrays the scene. ‘Mexican Nights’ pounds and pounds like an out of control jackhammer for a manic two minutes of suspense and they leave us with ‘We Share The Eye’, the most intense track here as it writhes along on a drum driven battery and the riffs must have surely sent the studio recording levels in the red.

Alpha Omega album track listing :-

Witches Burn At Dawn.

Blackbird Sings.

Forest Of Hanged Men.

Mechanical Heart.

Human Remains.

Field Of Skulls.

Milwaukee.

Harrowing Of Hell.

Horns Of Hattin.

Mexican Nights.

We Share The Eye.

Alpha Omega band line up :-

Charlie Fitzpatrick – Guitar.

Rich Budd – Drums.

Danny Wyer – Lead vocals/bass guitar.