PSYCHO CHOKE - review added 12th August 2010
Album Review: Unraveling Chaos (2010)
For fans of: Hardcore Metal... and evil clown-type figures
Thessaloniki, Greece band Psycho Choke - Alkis "Al Roy" Kechagias on vocals, Panos "Bax" Baxevanis and Argiris "Argy" Papadopoulos on guitars, George "Phantomas" Thanos on bass, and George "George Montes" Motesnitsas on drums - can trace its roots back to 1999. Debut album "Choke On This" was followed by a full-length demo and a 4 track Mini-CD called "The Last Moments of Absence".
"Unraveling Chaos" was produced, mixed and mastered by Jacob Hansen at his studios in Denmark. The album features several guests, most notably Gus G (Ozzy Osbourne, Firewind) who offers up a solo on 'Get Down'.
The sound of Unraveling Chaos is butt-smackingly heavy; to all intents and purposes the heaviest work yet from the band. There's plenty of big boisterous riffs, and the sort of rhythms you could use to blast sediment in the open pit mining industry. Think early Machinehead crossed with Sepultura and any number of European death metal bands. Al Roy's vocals are a perfect match to the sound too. He's got an aggressive devilish edge, but he never sounds comedic. Sounding badass clearly comes naturally to this guy.
How good is Unraveling Chaos? To start with, I absolutely loved it. Then, I really didn't like it at all. Fortunately, it's managed to grow on me again and I'm really getting into the thrashy nuances and pile-driving hooks of the record. The intro and Outro are a waste of time, but the other 8 tracks really are worth a big fat listen or ten. Tracks like the crushing, speedy 'Freedom In A Bottle Of Scotch', the beastly 'Obey', the catchy 'Fire In The Hole', and the magically-rhythmed 'Dummy' are superb. In fairness none of the main tracks are exactly shabby.
This is a really good album. It has few absolutely outstanding moments, but it manages the neat trick of being consistently enjoyable from start to finish. We like Unraveling Chaos. Rather a lot. Let's hope Psycho Choke don't wait another decade until their next full album.
Check out... All of it.
Track List:
01. Intro
02. Freedom In A Bottle Of Scotch
03. Get Down
04. Death By Words
05. Streetwise (Caramba)
06. Obey
07. Swamp
08. Fire In The Hole
09. Dummy
10. Outro
Label: 7Hard
Artist's website(s): Psycho Choke | MySpace | Facebook
