Alastor
The Unholy Hordes

It would appear that Alastor is a pretty common name for metal bands, when I got this one I thought it was the same band as Caj reviewed long ago with a pretty funny review. But that was an Austrian band, this one is from Portugal and this is their seventh album as far as I can tell. They began back in 1988 but first real album was in 2000, I cannot confirm the band members though as they haven’t been listed anywhere I have looked. They do have a new singer I read but as I cannot confirm I don’t list any members. But what about the music? that is the important thing, not whoever performs it.

It is pretty straightforward thrash-/black metal styled music, pretty aggressive and fast with shouty grunty vocals. Not the most impressive anything here really, the voice is average, the production is probably cost-effective, the ideas recycled and variation not that much. So, there isn’t much in regards of original thinking or anything like that, and they kind of look backwards as well. So, from most, if not all, perspectives it is a pretty unremarkable album.

The music is fine I guess, nothing special or emotive, it is an album that just is. One of those that I listen and write a few words, sometimes struggle a lot to find anything descriptive to say as for each and every time you hear these unremarkable albums it gets harder to think of what to say about them as each new one makes less of an impression than the previous. I find Alastor’s most remarkable feature being that they share name with a band we once wrote something amusing about – I was looking forward to doing some kind of follow up to that, before I actually heard the album as that killed that hope pretty quickly.

Perhaps it is an album that works for those that are fans of the style, but it isn’t one that will make much of a mark. These unholy hordes are just as dull and unimpressive as unholy hordes usually are. And with that we say goodbye to this creature.

HHHHHHH