Christian Älvestam

A true musician in every sense of the word, this Swedish gentleman is known to frolic about various bands and musical acts, usually lending his astounding talents as a vocalist. He is perhaps best known for being a former member of the band Scar Symmetry, but has been seeking greener pastures since 2008 with several other groups such as Miseration, Solution .45 and The Few Against Many, to name a few.

There is no doubt in my mind that he possesses one of the greatest voices in music today. He is renowned for being able to switch between death growls and harmonious, clean vocals with amazing ease.

Christian Älvestam can also be heard as a guest vocalist on countless bands' albums. In the following video, where he is recording some for Universum's upcoming Mortuus Machina album, we get a glimpse of what he does best. And some funny sounding guys making funny sounds.


By not being completely loyal to only one band, Älvestam sometimes puts himself out of his element, which normally would test one's capabilities, but I think it only proves his incredible versatility. Here, we have him providing vocals for some kind of house/ambient track for a fellow named Henrik B. Not only is it really odd and surprising for a metal singer to venture into a genre like this, but I think he could actually pull off a career in that one, too.


If you like what you hear in these videos, I highly recommend checking out his work in Scar Symmetry and Solution .45. For starters, try this and this. You won't be disappointed!

Mechanize by Fear Factory

The first thing I would like to discuss is the newest album of a fantastic band that has, in my opinion, made a huge comeback. I was also inspired to name this blog after one of the songs, called "The Oxidizer". The band is none other than Fear Factory, and their album, Mechanize, was just released this month.

I heard Fear Factory for the first time in the late '90s, shortly after the release of their critically acclaimed third album, Obsolete (1998). The combination of Burton C. Bell's clean vocals with his death vocals was just amazing. It was like heaven vs. hell in an audio format. Backing that glorious voice was also some of the heaviest and grooviest music that ever graced my prepubescent ears.

For some reason, I was not at all interested in the three albums that followed: Digimortal (2001), Archetype (2004) and Transgression (2005). Looking back on them now, though, I realize that they are all great albums. When I was younger, there was just something about Obsolete that grabbed my attention. Perhaps it was due to the lineup changes the band experienced throughout those later recordings, causing them to sound different.

When I gave Mechanize the initial listen, it definitely felt nostalgic. I was 13 years old again and hearing Fear Factory for the first time. I'm thinking it's probably because of Dino Cazares' return as guitarist. Those brutal guitars and drums booming behind Bell's melodic vocals were something I hadn't heard in a while.

Fear Factory really puts a huge amount of thought into their work, and as a result they produce some highly intriguing (and also addicting) compositions. Bell and Cazares have great some synergy. It almost seems like less is more when they are writing together. At least, this appears to be the case with Dino Cazares; he tends to make great use of fairly simple playing. I'm also a sucker for catchy/clean vocal hooks, and I wish they included just a little bit more of them in this album.

Be sure to check out one of my favorite songs from Mechanize, "Designing the Enemy":

My rating for Mechanize: 4.5/5

An Introduction

If there is one thing that I've been doing for a long time, it's listening intently to music. I grew up on heavy rock music, especially bands like Rage Against the Machine, Deftones and Fear Factory. Over a decade later, this music still moves me the same way it did back then, except now I have a much broader spectrum of bands and genres that I appreciate.

I am making this blog to share, rate, review, and discuss the music that I love. Hopefully, I will also discover some new stuff along the way. The best thing that could come out of this would be to introduce people to a band they've never heard of before, therefore helping the band's support grow so that they can continue to make great music.