I’m pretty sure there was some weird curse over this CD which was trying to prevent me from reviewing it. First the disc refused to play in three of my CD players, then my laptop crapped out, then a speaker blew – I’d blame it on the hot weather, but it all seemed to revolve around this one album! Anyhow, things must happen in threes, this is my third attempt at writing a review as the first one corrupted itself into word document Valhalla, and the second was on a memory stick which mysteriously disappeared from my possession(!). How’s that for some shitty luck?! Anyhow, ‘A Clockwork Chaos’ is the third full length album from Polish death/thrash quintet Vedonist, their first for renowned purveyors of good quality extremity Witching Hour Productions.
Opening track ‘Visual Echo of Distress’ kicks the album off in crushing style, with a thick, modern production plastering the instrumentation, making the guitars sound as if they’re about to tear your head off and poo down the neck hole, ravaging like a pumped up Hatesphere cranked on Meshuggah’s guitar tone. Although there are touches of thrash metal in the riffage, the album as a whole takes on much more of a modern death metal feel, with some of the riffage bordering on metalcore with their occasion penchant for slowed down, simplistic bludgeoning. Still, Vedonist aren’t afraid to up the tempo, with ‘At the Feet of Christ’ giving a good dosage of blastbeats and manic riffage to even up the score for the old school death metal aficionados, also chucking in a bucket full of ripping solos which are packed with melody and alongside a plethora of little licks spattered throughout, they really help to liven the album up from being a full on down-tuned chug fest. The vocals take on a hearty bellow to a wild animal styled growl which suits the musical style perfectly, multi-tracked and with interesting patterns to keep you guessing and to stave off staleness. In fact, both the vocalist (Pachu), and guitarist (Domin) are new to the band’s line up (Domin formally featuring in a personal favourite band of mine, Lost Soul). As I wasn’t aware of Vedonist’s previous works, I can’t say if their styles have changed the band’s path much, but I can certainly say the guitar work is tight with stimulating riffage and the vocals are varied and angry – so two thumbs up for me!
Cursed review or not, these guys certainly seem to have a good thing going. I’m not the biggest lover of modern styled death metal, but this has enough chops and variation to keep it from sinking into the mire. I’d say this is probably thanks to the overall vibe of the album keeping a technical Polish death metal style, marrying it up with some Meshuggah styled riffage, but also mixing in some cool quirky arrangements. Now, question is; can I actually send this review off for submission before my internet goes down/eyes fall out/zombie apocalypse happens?!…
(7/10 Lars Christiansen)
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