Year: 2022
Total Time: 22.56
Label: Self-Financed

A few days ago we received the new EP of the Athenian Death/Thrash Metal band ALTERSELF. They were formed in 2007 from Andrew Geo (guitars and vocals) and John Marinatos (bass). Today along with Dom Antouera (drums) they return with a very interesting and special EP called “Virgin Sin”.

This EP is being released digitally this month (March 2023) and consists of three new typical Thrash Metal songs and two special surprises. An acoustic version of “A Dream Within A Nightmare” from “Frost” album and an acoustic instrumental version of “Reverie”, one of the best songs the band has ever written. The three new songs “Half Life”, “Blind Art” και “Horror Unborn” are fast, powerful with not many twists and turns. Pure, old school Thrash.  The guitar solos in “Half Life” and “Blind Art” stand out.

To be honest I would like to hear something more original and complex but this is something that ALTERSELF give us with the other two songs of the EP. Firstly, the amazing instrumental version of “Reverie” where they use music instruments like kanun, darbuka and bentir. This song is a perfect example of how the instrumentation of a song can alter its character. The last song of the EP is an acoustic version of “A Dream Within a Nightmare” that was released in 2019. Mina Giannopoulou’s ethereal voice (at whole song and not in a part of it, like in the original version) and the viola of Anthony Del (that has replaced the guitar), take us to a dreamy and frosty world. 

I honestly love coming across bands and artists who experiment with their music, try to surpass the limits of their genre and exploit the full arsenal of musical instruments. This is what ALTERLIFE do in this EP and I congratulate them! They just won one more fan!

Rating: 7,5/10
Editor: Kostas Boudoukos
Related Link: ALTERSELF – Bandcamp Page