Review of the Album "Pulse?" By Swiss Thrash Metal Band Algebra

“Pulse?” is the third studio album by Swiss thrash metal band Algebra. Yes, there is even thrash metal in the small country of Switzerland and these guys present great amounts of melody and technique along with a good, rough vocal style.

I wonder though why this album’s title has a question mark next to it. The band might as well have given the album title Pulse without the question mark. If countries such as Greece are being considered to be the new Bay Area for thrash metal, what is Switzerland like when it comes to thrash metal? I don’t really know much about the thrash metal scene in Switzerland, but even through the brief listen of this album so far, the riffing is quite respectable. The musical style on this album is a modern kind of thrash and the rough vocals are pretty good as well. The only Swiss metal band that I really know of and have listened to is Celtic Frost so Algebra is the second band from this beautiful European country to be on my current playlist. There are touches of Slayer in this album but unlike Slayer, the leads are more melodic.

Since most of us know little to nothing about Switzerland’s Algebra, it is necessary to provide some background into the origins of this band. The origins of Algebra go back to 2008 as the band was formed in the city of Lausanne by four men, Mat, Tony, Ed and Phil.

The song Concrete Jungle is a thrash metal song that sounds very modern and also like a little bit of early to mid-1990’s Annihilator. But for the purposes of this review, we must address how the album actually begins. The album begins with the short song called Ego Destroyed if we can even call this a song at all. It has a definite progressive feel to it similar to the Awaken the Guardian album until the more modern riffing comes in.

Addicted to Authority is a song that is basically about a person that goes through the disastrous effects of chronic drug use. The riffing and lead guitars complement each other very well as the modern style of thrash metal is continued. Digital Master is the next song in this album and it is about the fact that technology will more than likely replace humans for certain tasks. Using mathematics and computer technology can humans be replaced by machines? Quantum God is a song that starts out with the feel of a band called Galactic Cowboys because of the vocal style and the guitar play. Lyrically the song is describing a scenario where robots may reach the sky to really transform the world in a way that we have not seen before. The song speeds up in a brilliant way as it sounds like the album Individual Thought Patterns. Chuck Schuldiner really influenced other artists that came later and it really is unfortunate that he is no longer alive to see how thrash metal has reached pretty much every corner of the Earth. Are robots on the rise to reach the skies? Artificial intelligence can do so many things and I’m not even a Computer Science student being able to understand this. Simulated Mind is a song that tells us that we are confined to this human body until the end of our existence. It is being said that our lives are predetermined before we were born. Some might say that we have a pointless existence if there is death that must result from life. But humans have a life span just like any living brings so is it not obvious that death must result from living?

Prelude to Hate is another acoustic instrumental that has that 1980’s feel to it along with a little classical influence in it and then the lead guitar comes in and makes it more melodic. The song goes into the next song called Hateful Source. Through two listens of the album Pulse, it is reasonable for me to conclude that Switzerland’s Algebra have done well enough to deserve much more than just moderate consideration. The vocals are better than bands such as Sodom or Kreator even if they may not be as melodic as the modern day Kreator.