The Metal Observer (Canada)

France’s Julien Carayon's release “Lethal Alchemy” is an instrumental guitar release of a different kind. Whereas most instrumental releases are essentially Rock guitar players trying their hands at various different styles (Hard Rock, Blues, Funk, Folk, etc) using them to convey different moods, while using what is essentially a Metal approach to lead guitar playing (not that there’s anything wrong with that), “Lethal Alchemy” is basically a Jazz album showcasing Hard Rock influences.

   
Instead of being a balls out shred record full of very intricate soloing, “Lethal Alchemy” is instead a multi-layered Jazz album with some Rock undertones. The songs aren’t pieced together via riffs, but instead the melody of the song slowly builds to a crescendo, with a lot of expressive guitar playing, and the sounds used are further used to achieve this goal. Due to the long songs, shortest one being “Heat” which clocks in at just under 7 minutes, the songs have a lot of time to develop and have a multitude of different motifs throughout, while the slow beat makes the songs slowly creep in from the background. It doesn’t punch you in the face, but instead slowly seeps into your ears. It’s as if each song was a small story, and the music is what propels the story forward.   

The problem is that after a while, the song styles don’t change that significantly. Each song has the same slow pace, all of the rhythm instruments being perpetually subtle while the lead instrument(s) play gorgeous melodies that sometimes go off into the territory of Jazz soloing. But NOTHING stands out after nearly one hour of this, the mood of the album never shifts, so the songs all wind up sounding the same, due to them all having similar musical qualities.
    
Each song is well crafted and goes through ups and downs and the guitar playing is very emotive and expressive, but what’s missing is each song having individual characteristics, to break the monotony that is present throughout the album.
    
The guitar playing is very well done (the legato technique is amazing) and VERY expressive and Julien Carayon never overplays, but I cannot recommend this album on the lead playing alone. The songs, while very multi-l    ayered with tons of little intricacies and many melodic patterns, add up to an album that is very one dimensional due to all the songs being in exactly the same vein.
    
Review by Armen - The Metal Observer