France’s Alkemyst were one of the bands I discovered when I was on a power metal diet in my early 20’s. All I wanted to listen to back then were bands like Helloween, Rhapsody, Stratovarius, Labyrinth, Vision Divine, Angra and so on. And the labels didn’t let me down. The released every power metal album they could get a hold of, and I still have tons of catalogues and promotional sheets with that stuff. But even then, when the power metal scene was over flooded, Alkemyst caught my attention. High quality power metal with progressive touch from France? That was unbelievable! And they had Roberto Messina from Secret Sphere! Yes, they shot across the sky like a meteor, but they definitely left their trace! To be honest, I haven’t listened to Alkemyst for years and didn’t know they reunited in 2016 and disbanded again in 2022, but my love to their music always has been with me. So a while ago I contacted Alkemyst’s master mind Arnaud Ménard to discuss the band’s challenging story. This is so far the longest and the most honest (I’d say brutally honest) interview I’ve done in 15 years.
