''Austral Alien'' is the fifth full-length studio album by the Australian progressive metal band

Alchemist Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscience, protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in Chinese alchemy, C ...

. It was recorded and mixed in only ten days. It was released in 2003 by

Chatterbox Records Chatterbox Records was an independent record label based in Sydney, Australia, founded in 1997 by musician Nik Tropiano and Sebastian Chase of Phantom Records. The label boasts an eclectic mixture of various genres. Its first release was a vin ...

in Australia and worldwide by

Relapse Records Relapse Records is an American independent record label based in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. It was founded by Matthew F. Jacobson in 1990. The label features many grindcore, death metal, metalcore and sludge metal artists. History The label was ...

. ''Austral Alien'' is semi-conceptual with a lyrical focus inspired by the Australian environment and the impact of man on the ecology. Promotional music videos for the songs "First Contact", "Solarburn" and "Alpha Capella Nova Vega" were released, with the video for "Solarburn" expressing the album's concept, using imagery from the

2003 Canberra bushfires The 2003 Canberra bushfires caused severe damage to the suburbs and outer areas of Canberra, the capital city of Australia, during 18–22 January 2003. Almost 70% of the Australian Capital Territory's (ACT) pastures, pine plantations, and nat ...

. The cover art is influenced by

Surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

. ''Austral Alien'' featured more keyboards and a mellowing of their previous death metal guitar sound, with even shorter songs than ''

Organasm ''Organasm'' is the fourth full-length studio album by the Australian progressive metal band Alchemist. It was issued in Australia by Chatterbox, with D.W. Norton producing, on 6 March 2000 as their first release with the label. It was supporte ...

''. Allmusic suggested that "''Austral Alien'' is for Alchemist what, say, ''

Permanent Waves ''Permanent Waves'' is the seventh studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released January 14, 1980, through Anthem Records. After touring to support their previous album, '' Hemispheres'' (1978), the band began working on new material for a ...

'' was to

Rush Rush(es) may refer to: Places United States * Rush, Colorado * Rush, Kentucky * Rush, New York * Rush City, Minnesota * Rush Creek (Kishwaukee River tributary), Illinois * Rush Creek (Marin County, California), a stream * Rush Creek (Mono Cou ...

(see the increased use of

synthesizers A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

): a work of unquestionable merit and maturity that may nevertheless leave older fans yearning just a little for the excesses – both successful and not – of albums past" and noted that this was the band's most commercially accessible release, while still praising Alchemist for their "inspired brand of sci-fi metal".

Track listing

Credits

* Adam Agius − vocals, guitar, keyboards * Rodney Holder − drums, triangle * John Bray − bass guitar * Roy Torkington − guitar, artwork, layout and design

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Austral Alien 2003 albums Alchemist (band) albums 2000s concept albums Relapse Records albums