Michael Woodruff is no stranger to the metal scene having fronted Motograter, Relevent and Riven before taking his talents and forming The Alpha Complex in 2012. After several versions of the lineup the band released Generate in 2014 and has spent the last two years crisscrossing the country destroying venues in it’s wake. The bands strength is clearly the powerful vocals of Woodruff. Since his EP (Pre-Release) with Motograter, Michael has been honing his skills and the improvement in his vocal power and melody is very apparent in the 5 years between releases. Generator is an intriguing release in the fact that there’s some really good stuff that shows the potential of this band. Black And Blue is a very catchy song that really shows the band is on the verge of something special. As Bridges Burn, Never Again and Til The End are other songs that stand out. One of my favorites is Cut The Strings. I love the harmonies of the band mixed with Michaels heavier vocals. It’s a well written song, fast paced and catchy, then at about the 4 1/2 minute mark the song transitions into a mellow ending. I really like how it worked. This is The Alpha Complex at it’s finest. However, at times the band struggles to find it’s own identity and gets lost in trying to sound too much like someone else. Case in point, Cold has a tendency to sound a bit too much like Breaking Benjamin. Then there is Goodnight…which quite honestly I’m not sure what the band was doing outside of trying to write an Alternative type hit song. Not going to say much more other than: Guys…you are clearly capable of something much bigger and better than this. One other song I really didn’t care for was the cover of Garbage‘s song #1 Crush. You know what, I’m ok with that. I applaud the band for going out on a limb and taking a chance at something different. It might have been better suited for a B side of a single or an EP but I love that the band was willing to try something different (ask Disturbed how that worked for them). There’s more diversity with the closing song Waves, which is a really interesting song and would have been a great follow up to Cut The Strings considering how it ended and how Waves sounded. I liked the harmonies and the song has an progressive/melodic feel to it. It showed a side of the band that I think they were trying to explore with Goodnight and #1 Crush.
There is a LOT to love about The Alpha Complex. I love the electronic influences. In fact, I’d love to see them explore it a little more on their next release. Michael is clearly the star of this show, but it’s obvious he’s surrounded by a talented band. Generate for the most part is a very solid CD and I think if the band focuses, grows and expands on it’s strengths, 2017 could be a very special year for them. [Independent Release: https://www.facebook.com/TheAlphaComplex/ & https://thealphacomplex.bandcamp.com/ ]
