ALCOHOLIKA LA CHRISTO – Toxicnology Part 1 & 2

There aren’t a lot of heavy bands from Bolivia, but Alcoholika La Christo can count themselves amongst the proud few, having released a handful of albums since 1995. The release of their newest, Toxicnology Part 1 & 2, comes on the heels of 2005’s La Christo. Prior to that, the last Alcoholika La Christo disc came out in 1995.

Toxicnology Part 1 & 2 is a single-disc release, combining Toxicnology Part 1 and Toxicnology Part 2 on one CD; both of these albums are also available separately. All told, there are 22 songs here, including a hidden bonus track.

22 songs on a single disc, you say? It helps that the majority of the tunes are pretty short, with most of them clocking in at around three minutes apiece.

Alcoholika La Christo plays a combination of Industrial Metal and Gothic Metal, with some Electronic and mild Techno overtones. You can expect the usual sort of sound associated with music like this: thumping beats, sampled voices and sounds effects, keyboards, ragged guitar riffs, tinkling pianos, and lots of heavy drums. Hoarse, raspy male vocals are frequently traded off with pleasant female ones, and lyrics are in English, Spanish, French, and German.

The vocals –- the male ones at least -– take some getting used to: Viko and Vito Paredes are credited with the singing on Toxicnology Part 1 & 2, and their vocal stylings are very rough and coarse, veering almost towards more harsher, tuneless forms of Metal at times. Their singing adds some grit to the album, though, keeping it from getting too slick and soulless. Still, you might get tired of all the shouting before the end of the album. And, if the shouting doesn’t irritate you, some of the more obnoxious sampled sounds just might: most of the sampled sounds and voices are good, but there are a few choice ones that are downright annoying.

Toxicnology Part 1 & 2 moves along quite quickly, even though none of the songs are what could really be considered “fast.” Still, there are some heavy-grooved, solid thumpers to be found throughout the album, and a couple of slower numbers skirt ballad territory without ever crossing over into it. But, with most of the songs being so short, they never really have a chance to sink in, ending just as you start getting into them. The better songs are the ones that are a bit longer, like the catchy “Dunkel Heit” and “Tristezza.” There are some good atmospheric tracks on this album, but a fair amount of filler ones too.

Although there are 22 tracks on the album, that’s a bit misleading: the hidden track at the end is just a repeat of the short intro song “Glamours Day Of Suicide” followed by three minutes of silence, then another minute of screams, sampled voices, and effects. This hidden song wasn’t hidden well enough.

Toxicnology Part 1 & 2 is a decent album for Alcoholika La Christo, and fans of this musical style will probably indeed enjoy it, but it’s nothing to get really excited over.