Released By : Kolony Records
Genre : Groove Metal
Links : http://www.myspace.com/chainreactionpl
Lineup :
Barton – Vocals
Wodzirej – Guitar
Kommandos – Bass, Vocals
Dani – Guitar, Vocals
Konar – Drums
Tracklist:
1. Twinge
2. Prime Integers
3. God Lives Too Long
4. Elder Thrived
5. Insomnia Revised/H.B Woodrose
6. Class “A” Prisoner
7. Projecting A.M
8. No Iogo
9. When Road ‘n’ Booze Collide
10. Intra Vires
11. Even If
As far as my sometimes useless memory can recall, CHAIN REACTION are the first groove metal band if ever hears than come from Poland. Even so, apart from a few slight accent oddities the music and overall sound remains largely similar to that of bands from the more traditionally English speaking nations. I guess that’s one more thing that I can cross off my list, and the more surprising part was that the album they sent me, CUTTHROAT MELODIES, which is the bands second full-length is actually quite good and would serve most fans of very modern groove metal very well.
With the groove metal tag obviously influences from PANTERA and MACHINE HEAD are quite prominent, but CHAIN REACTION also have a slight element of the nu-metal sound similar to say the earlier albums of MUDVAYNE and even a little slappy bass a-la KORN.
Everything seems to be in check here. The vocals are mostly very good and the singer has a great level of variation, going from a Phil Anselmo type groove metal growl, to a hardcore metal grunt and even some well above average clean vocals, the guitars are chunky and the riffs are aplenty, and also the rhythm section bounce off each other and really lay down a thick juicy foundation. The only real negative I found it that most of the modern world has already heard this sort of stuff and I really feel as though CUTTHROAT MELODIES is about five or six years too late. Don’t get me wrong, it think they are a very good band and I enjoyed the album a lot, it’s just that with a major slice of the metal listening public these days latching on to all things metalcore and deathcore, the market for real thrashy groove metal has dwindled into near obscurity.
The metal landscape needs more bands like CHAIN REACTION, and I for one really, really hope that they find an audience as I would like to see them move up a few rungs on the pecking order and help to remind people just how good proper groove is. My only suggestion would be to lose a little bit of the nu-metal influence, not because I didn’t like it, just because I know a lot of people won’t, but apart from that, this is a band on the way up and who knows what they could do with their next album.
Written By ZeeZee
Rating : 8/10
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