You don't have to be at the peak of the extreme in order to be brutal, but how about being fast and furious instead? Filled with so much angst that you are willing to charge in and break the walls. Yet, here is the thing, when I listened to the sophomore album of this band right here, the Aussie ALKIRA, I tried to understand why in the world they are so harsh and with the utmost conviction of in for the kill? To be honest, after I finished listening, it still escaped me, but at least I was bombed by ounces of onslaught music. Out of the clutches of their local label, Truth Inc. Records, ALKIRA issued "Klotho", a name which I think that has to do something with their culture or at least something that is Folklore. I didn't expect such an esoteric name to be connected with fists made of electrifying steel.

From one end, ALKIRA could be rendered as one of the additions to the new wave of Thrash Metal bands engulfing the world. Their style virtually derives from the iconic METALLICA to the aggression and technical expertise of TESTAMENT, which means Bay Area bash party plunging your ears, cracking your brain like a walnut. However, that is the point, ALKIRA maybe a different kind, an abomination, and after taking a spin of their music, you will find out why they aren't exactly the usual monster. Starting from the band's sort of mood swings from their pristine traditional Thrash Metal commitment to gruesome disperse of ultimate devastation ranging towards the outskirts of Death Metal, continuing with the assorted theme that made their compositions even more mysterious, and ending with a highly executed instrumental mastery that virtually lit my eyes, especially when practicing those raunchy solos. Without being on the verge of Progressive, there is nothing reminiscent to being memorable, maybe a few gang oriented shoutouts that are part of the Thrash institution. In a whole, there is a successful ongoing pursuit to stretch the maximum of the genre, while also spanning their capabilities as musicians.

ALKIRA might as well be close to cause a spleen rupture with their determination, and I believe that "Klotho" proved right from the violent chaos on display in the opening track "Hospice". "A Thalidomide Child", the album's first lengthy number, is largely a melodic mid-tempo affliction of rhythm heaviness while also playing the role of the an epic full of guitar leads that could derail some old school fans to the floor. On the other hand, I didn't expect it to develop into a deadly surprise in the image of  an energy charge flowing through one's brain. And here we go with another epos, "The Last Life". Be watchful of the convergence within extreme Metal as it slowly being extinguished by the Thrash precision. No doubt this is a decisive epic, a bliss of instrumental talent to the side of the preaching aggression. "Karmaphala" displays a breach into the Hardcore nonconformist attitude, a brutal distribution of power and malevolence under a singular turf. And I stop with "Gene Supremacy" defying with massive grooves, sheer aggression while clinging to the classics, yet with enough burst of deathly Hardcoric instigation.

ALKIRA might not be ultimate, yet they proved Aussie land is a diverse Metal scene with so much to offer to the Western world when it comes to Metal music. Be a pal and do them honors.