Chastain
We Bleed Metal
Leviathan Records
2015
Chastain came back out of the wild with a line-up that did quite resemble their original one, bar using a new drummer and a sound and attitude straight out of their “early” days… unapologetic and metal as fuck, the band seems to not waste any time in following up their reunion album with yet another album that fits their releases canon quite well.
“We Bleed Metal” is a bit of a mission statement and while the eponymous opener, might border on being a little cheesy, but after it opens the floodgates, more and more songs come along that are vastly superior both in conception as well as execution... for instance “All Hail the King” is faster, wilder and much better in every aspect.
“Against All the Gods” bridges melody with acoustic parts and swirling solos and the ever leather-lunged, Leather Leone is as good as ever…
“Search Time for You” is a lot heavier and driven by an almost doomy riff and it’s quite catchy...
”Don’t Trust Tomorrow” maintains the heaviness, but mildly speeds things up a fair bit.
“I Am a Warrior” ain’t half as bad and expectedly is pretty epic, but there have been a number of songs with that line in them that are superior to this one, so unconsciously I was making some comparisons that weren’t that flattering.
“Evolution of Terror” is a plodding mid-tempo that allows DC to get a bit more technical and while it doesn’t screw the albums flow much, it’s not exactly a highlight either.
“The Last Ones Alive” sounds pretty interesting, but suffers a bit from its own ambition in trying to make the song sound really epic; the mission is half accomplished, but also there are things that could have been handled a bit better…
Lastly “Secrets” concludes the album in a similar mid-tempo way and despite its slight issues, it is a better tune than its predecessor, if not a little anticlimactic finisher…
Chastain maintain a decent level of inspiration and performance. Fans of the band will probably like this release that seems to take things a step beyond 2013’s “Surrender to No One”.
“We Bleed Metal” is a bit of a mission statement and while the eponymous opener, might border on being a little cheesy, but after it opens the floodgates, more and more songs come along that are vastly superior both in conception as well as execution... for instance “All Hail the King” is faster, wilder and much better in every aspect.
“Against All the Gods” bridges melody with acoustic parts and swirling solos and the ever leather-lunged, Leather Leone is as good as ever…
“Search Time for You” is a lot heavier and driven by an almost doomy riff and it’s quite catchy...
”Don’t Trust Tomorrow” maintains the heaviness, but mildly speeds things up a fair bit.
“I Am a Warrior” ain’t half as bad and expectedly is pretty epic, but there have been a number of songs with that line in them that are superior to this one, so unconsciously I was making some comparisons that weren’t that flattering.
“Evolution of Terror” is a plodding mid-tempo that allows DC to get a bit more technical and while it doesn’t screw the albums flow much, it’s not exactly a highlight either.
“The Last Ones Alive” sounds pretty interesting, but suffers a bit from its own ambition in trying to make the song sound really epic; the mission is half accomplished, but also there are things that could have been handled a bit better…
Lastly “Secrets” concludes the album in a similar mid-tempo way and despite its slight issues, it is a better tune than its predecessor, if not a little anticlimactic finisher…
Chastain maintain a decent level of inspiration and performance. Fans of the band will probably like this release that seems to take things a step beyond 2013’s “Surrender to No One”.