Chronicle is back!
Formed in 2012 in Denmark, the band consisting of Lars Bo Nepper (guitar/vocals), Sebastian Skousgaard (guitar), Jacob Wammen (bass/vocals) and Jari Sielemann Holopainen (drums) continues their collaboration with Mighty Music for the release of Where Chaos Thrives, their third album.
With Usher in the End, the first track, the band takes time to place a calm introduction before letting musicians go wild to create an as complex as melodious and aggressive rhythmic, letting vocal parts sublimate the explosions of rage, tempered by Prog elements. The haunting final leads us to Evolution In Reverse, a rather similar track which offers piercing and worked leads throughout the entire composition, creating some pellicule of permanent melodic dissonance before Terrorform unveils more disturbing and dark sounds. Mysterious tones prove to be rather effective between two more aggressive parts, then The Black Tide adopts more Thrash, Old School and jerky elements without ever denying this part of technicality no matter how fast the band plays. Vestigial will allow us a short moment of respite with a majestic introduction, but Death Metal roots accelerate again to let the band offer a powerful and worked sound, while keeping a continuous aggressive approach, just like on the solid New Dark Age, whose jerky rhythmic will remind of Industrial influences before letting blast make devastation. The track is undoubtedly one of the wildest, but also one of the rawest of the album before this intense and almost soothing final, which will end to let Life Erasure develop heavy tonalities, quickly accompanied by more violent and frantic elements, but also by melancholic melodies on guitar and bass. The band allows us a new moment of relaxation with Horror Unearthed’s dancing influences, quickly crushed by the strength of their unstoppable murderous riffs, but the track is quite short compared to the others, and it will leave its place after having stunned us to Where Chaos Thrives, the last track. Unsurprisingly, the band will spread all their energy for this long composition, mixing complex but extremely coherent patterns with complementary heady melodies, which give the devastating aggressiveness another taste.
Chronicle takes a big step forward with Where Chaos Thrives. Their ability to combine solid rhythmic patterns with well crafted melodies in a very balanced way is impressive, and allows the band to deliver a devastating sound.
85/100