This is a Canadian melodic death metal band on album number three, they have actually changed their style from the more blackened path that began at their inception. The opening few tracks are full of power and energy and there is a typical gruff melo-death/heavy thrash stance in the vocals. In some quarters these vocals remind me of Exodus’ Rob Dukes, in other corners of the spectrum they are melodic Swedish/Gothenburg styled. ‘Stranger in the Mirror’ could have been penned by similar artists such as 2nd to 4th album Children of Bodom (listen to the bridge riff on ‘So Speak the Voice of Law’), right though to other marginal comparisons to Dark Tranquility.
The album all sounds fine, there is a cool heavy production job going on, but I don’t get many chill’s or sense of wow-factor as there is a fair bit of similarity on-going. Don’t get me wrong, this is a fine crafted piece of music as an album, but it is very interchangeable and common in recent times. Some of the vocal phrasing changes the game though, going clean, then dirty gives tracks like ‘Dead End’ more soul, that bit more life. The same can be said for the guitar tone that beefs itself up and conversely calms down for the more technical and intricate sections of various tunes, a big plus point because you can hear what is being played in the mix as a result. Obviously with an album title as such there is going to be some gruesome artwork and the band logo is slightly more rugged than on previous releases, but I was expecting a pure thrash album based on the cover alone…you know…that nuclear holocaust thing that’s usually associated with that genre.
This is a technically gifted release that is a heavier album than previous efforts and the bands new line-up has clearly given the project a new direction and dimension. ‘Chernobyl Survivor’ is a hefty slab of heavy thrash/melodic death metal that will serve as a perfect side dish to many other main courses.
(7/10 Paul Maddison)
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