Here’s a new French classic rock/metal band called Alpha Mountain that unleashed their album on Bandcamp back on Oct 28.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Alpha Mountain
ALBUM: Alpha Mountain
LABEL: Vallis Lupi Productions/Bandcamp
SERIAL: NA
YEAR: 2022
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: 
LINEUP: Steph Honde – vocals, guitars, keyboards * Butcho Vukovic – vocals * Eric Lebailly – drums * Pascal Baron – bass * Fred Schneider – bass (4, 6, 8, 9)
TRACK LISTING: 01 Serenity * 02 All In Vain * 03 It’s Real * 04 A Deep And Real Sad Song * 05 It’s Up To You * 06 A Memory Trace * 07 Bad Days * 08 The Thin Red Line * 09 Chasing The Wind * 10 Don’t Go Astray * 11 What’s Going Wrong
RATING: 
WEBLINKS: Bandcamp Link
Background
Here’s a new French classic rock/metal band called Alpha Mountain that unleashed their album on Bandcamp back on Oct 28. The mastermind of the band is guitarist Steph Honde who has spent time working on various projects including Hollywood Monsters and Frédéric Slama’s AOR, while his band mates have played with other European notables such as Last Temptation and Adagio.
Musically, Alpha Mountain comes across as a classic rock/metal hybrid. I’m hearing contemporaries including Beggars And Thieves, Led Zeppelin, maybe a smidgen of Rainbow/Dio. Mostly there’s a classic rock blues vibe which soaks it in a 70’s elixir more than most, and keeping it very old school.
The Songs
You get a good gauge for Alpha Mountain’s sound through the opener ‘Serenity’, with the vocals emulating Louis Merlino and Glenn Hughes in a sonic crosswind. One can’t help compare ‘All In Vain’ with Led Zeppelin‘s ‘The Immigrant Song’ though not exactly a copy-cat.
‘It’s Tough’ is relatively short at a touch over 3 minutes, and blazes away in quick time. The guitar tone reminiscent of that one-off ‘Vinyl Futures’ LP from Riff Raff. ‘A Deep And Real Sad Song’ is a shifting composition and is kept under restraint tempo wise. The music fitting the song title and lyrics to a tee.
The band spice it up for ‘It’s Up To You’ which is where the Dio comparison slides in. It has an exotic middle eastern vibe too, but only just. For something different, ‘A Memory Trace’ is played in a melancholy fashion. Slower tempo, soulful vocal and a solo from the Pink Floyd songbook.
‘Bad Days’ revs it up somewhat, an energetic number, it’s followed by ‘The Thin Red Line’ (not the Glass Tiger chestnut), its a bit of a slow burner with another useful soaring solo. ‘Chasing The Wind’ riffs away unashamedly, ‘Don’t Go Astray’ too is equally riff happy with cymbals being given a good hammering while ‘What’s Going Wrong’ is a song of two halves, a piano/vocal makes way for a beefed up finale.
In Summary
The band are not on a major label, preferring in this case to keep it self-released through Bandcamp, and GDM is more than happy to support artists through that platform. If a bluesy style of classic rock albeit in a semi metal flavour is your thing, then make a beeline for the Alpha Mountain.
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All In Vain
A Deep And Real Sad Song
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