Alpha Tiger - Beneath The Surface

Published January 20 2013

*=Staff's pick	Intro The Alliance* From Outer Space Waiting For A Sign Beneath The Surface Along The Rising Sun Eden Lies In Ruins* Rain* Crescent Moon* We Came From The Gutter

Genre	Heavy/Speed Metal	Stephan Dietrich	Vocals
Tracks	10	Peter Langforth	Guitar
Running time	57 Min.	Alexander Backasch	Guitar
Label	Century Media	Dirk Frei	Bass
Release	28 January 2013	David Schleif	Drums
Country	Germany	Stephan Dietrich	Piano
Producer	Mirco Godi Hildmann
Similar artists	---

Alpha Tiger's sophomore release and the first with drummer David Schleif and also their debut with Century Media. Their debut album, Man Or Machine, was released in 2011 and I never got to hear that one, so when I laid my hands on Beneath The Surface in December last year, my first thought was questioning the band's name, but my second thought was that to never judge a book from its cover and I'm glad I didn't, because this album is in fact a rather pleasant piece of German metal.

Alpha Tiger plays speedy heavy metal or the other way around and has resemblances with earlier Helloween, mostly because the lead singer's range from up to down often is highly similar to Michael Kiske's technique and I'm sure many reviews will mention this and call this band the return of Helloween's lost little brother or something. The guitar leads, solos and melodies, as well as the vocal melodies are striking and the bassplay is to some extent copied from Steve Harris occasionally. The songs are diverse within their narrow margins; speedy, catching and easy digested. Beneath The Surface has strong songs all through and I don't lose interest during near one hour of playing time.

Just to mention a few, I love the frenzy speed monster The Alliance and also Crescent Moon, which is a song that builds its way up to climax in a way somewhat similar to Keeper Of The Seven Keys. It's really hard to pick songs for Staff's pick, when most songs are at an even high level. Young, fresh and definitely not flawless, but I guess that's what attracts my interest in this record. It's also great to hear bands that produce records that are better and have more ideas than their idols' degenerating new releases. 7 chalices and recommended to old metal fans with open eyes and to young fans that necessarily don't worship the old dinosaurs with their magnum opuses created three decades ago.