Chaos Doctrine – And In The Beginning…They Lied
Chaos Doctrine – And In The Beginning…They Lied
Self-Released
Release Date: 25/06/2021
Running Time: 40:46
Review by Wallace Magri
9.5/10
Chaos Doctrine is a South African based band, that brings to us, in their sophomore album “And in the Beginning, They Lied”, a chaotic mixture of Extreme Metal music, guided by old school bay-area Thrash Metal, elements of Black Metal, technical sections similar to Death Metal and Industrial Metal programming fuelled with noise layers, to give the proper ambience to their partially conceptual album, with lyrics addressing themes of religion, corrupt politicians, mass media control within a very dystopian scenario.
Don’t get me wrong, the fact that Chaos Doctrine allow interactions among musical styles to create their sonority doesn’t mean that they are a band without musical direction or trying to appeal to a too wide audience. On this album the band has been able to move forward from their self-titled debut record, released in 2018, developing a very peculiar sonority, that possesses unique identity.
I’ll make things easier for the Ever Metal readers: You know a band called Slayer, right? So, put Slayer in the epicentre of the musical chaos delivered by Chaos Doctrine and we have the basis to start to describe the metal assault that awaits you here! As a matter of fact, they play a cover version of ‘South Of Heaven’ on the album and, at the same time that they pay tribute to their main influence, they also had the ability to reactivate the rage of that seminal song, with an approach which is much rawer and more disturbing.
Disturbed is a good word to help to describe how I felt when I started closely listening to the nine original tracks (the Slayer’s cover is a bonus track) on the album. I noticed some slips in the mixing, but nothing that spoilt my enjoyment of “And In The Beginning…They Lied”.
This is because they have reached the skill to keep the listener well fed during the listening experience – a hard thing to do these days when people have plenty of songs (and other things) to distract them and they see no point on wasting time listening to a whole album.
What we have here is 36 minutes of very well arranged, original, heavy music and it sounds clear that the band took their time in the composition of each one of these songs, making it tough for me to find some highlights to talk about in more detail. I will say that the opening intro, ‘And In The Beginning…’, followed by ‘Blood Serpent God’ are a superb way to kick off the album: Industrial Metal elements to help with the gloomy ambience, Fear Factory style, but, when the guitar/bass/drum assault kicks in it, personally, relates to old school Extreme Metal, in a time when bands weren’t quite aware of the distinguishing elements amongst Thrash/Death/Black Metal. In the 80’s bands like Possessed, Slayer, Exodus, Kreator, Destruction etc were creating a new musical genre based on the things they were used to listening to, and giving their best efforts to turn it more brutal and unpalatable – by their own means.
That is the same sensation I had listening to ‘Blood Serpent God’, because Chaos Doctrine pick various heavy metal element that are needed for their own music benefit – in this case, old school paced Thrash/Black Metal with a brutal chorus (reminiscent of Sepultura’s “Arise”-era) and Industrial Metal interventions.
Now, welcome to the Slayer side of the story, delivered expertly in ‘Black Friday Bedlam’ – a kick ass old-school Thrash Metal track guided by strong guitar riffs and ferocious drum and bass. I also enjoyed the duel between the screamed vocals, that are guttural as fuck, and the other vocal line, that evokes Tom Araya at his best!
Even though the songs are built around the talent of all the musicians, I think that what gives them the old-school flavour is the guitar work, because it is not full of ultra-technical playing, as many shredders use these days. The solos have more feeling, helping in the transition of the songs, like in ‘Father Grigori’.
I think that with these tips, you can proceed on your own to the rest of the songs on “In the Beginning…They Lied”, whose quality speaks for itself. Now, you may ask me why I rated the album 9.5, if it is that good. Well, the answer is because I am sure that they will come back with new releases that are going to beat this one. They are a young band, very focused on their musical creation. So, I’ll save my 10 for the next one!
‘Blood Serpent God’ feat. Anna Hel (Official Video)
TRACKLISTING:
01. And In The Beginning…
02. Blood Serpent God (Feat. Anna Hel)
03. Black Friday Bedlam (Feat. Jörgen Sandström)
04. Harlot
05. Nocturna Mors
06. Father Grigori
07. The Rite
08. Christ Church Horizon
09. They Lied
10. South Of Heaven (Bonus Slayer Cover)
LINE-UP:
Daniel Burger “Dr D” – Vocals
Alec Surridge – Guitar
Rory Townes – Drums
Phil Carstens – Bass, Backing Vocals
LINKS:
Previous EMQ’s Interview with Chaos Doctrine:
Chaos Doctrine ‘Harlot’ Visualiser Video – Ever Metal Premiere:
Chaos Doctrine ‘Enjoy The Silence’ Video – Ever Metal Premiere:
Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Wallace Magri and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
