-Greg’s Take-

Music should always be honest. It is an art form after all and if art is not honest then it will suffer the consequences.

If you stop reading after the next sentence, then you’re going to miss the point. So stick with me.

Alpine Those Myriads is not being honest.

Sure they classify their sound as avant-garde. Sure they say they’re a “kaleidoscopic music for the open-minded.” But their upcoming release, Psyche, is not honest. Alpine Those Myriads is filled with an originality most would be quick to categorize as “strange”. They play to ominous. They play to the abstract. They epitomize “experimental.”

Alpine Those Myriads lives in a world shaped by their musical vision. The world is vast, often desolate and filled with mind-altering visions of shapes and landscapes that not even Dr. Seuss could imagine. Psyche flies open with “Hail to the fight.” The beginning track wastes no time bouncing chaotic delivery off Gypus Chelofan, the Marble King and Addo Tesla (the members of the band). They play to and with emptiness, quite literally, throughout the album; most notably in “Dingy Heart”. They meticulously pick apart a rock foundation with “Jeopardous” and play to with dark whimsy in “A demon´s head.” Throughout Psyche your senses are challenged and often you want to look away, but find yourself gazing into the macabre. If you’ve ever imagined staring into a dream that Roger Waters is having while running a 102 degree fever, you probably need some help. But after you’ve gotten help, you can understand that Psyche is equally, strangely, fascinating.

As the ten track album comes to a close, you immediately feel the overwhelming sense that there is something profoundly entertaining to be found within its walls. Even as such, I can’t shake the feeling that Alpine Those Myriads is not completely honest to themselves in that, they don’t feel as though they’ve completely pushed us, or themselves, to the point they sought after. They appear to have restrained a little when they clearly could have pushed even farther. They certainly are not fake; as a matter of fact they just might be the closest thing to real. They just leave me wishing for more.

Did I mention they’re from Norway?