The Chariot

In the vein of the record being reviewed, I’ll keep this shit short and sweet. The first release from The Chariot wasn’t very good. It left me, like many others asking why Josh Scogin left Norma Jean, annoyingly long and pretentious track names in hand, to make sub-par music that sounded almost too similar.

The Fiancée may be the overdue answer to the question. The Chariot have crafted a really solid metalcore album that explores some new territory with one foot while keeping the other firmly planted in familiar ground. Guitar squeals, breakdowns and dissonant feedback are in abundance here, but thankfully the band provides enough fresh ideas with which it can mesh and ultimately shape into something enjoyable.

Even the track titles on this release don’t bother me as much as they normally would because of how well this record is crafted. The album’s opener “Back to Back” is a lot of fucking fun. It’s heavy. It’s direct. Really, it’s just plain good. The rest of the album is notably lucid for a metalcore release.

Tied amongst the screaming and low-high-low guitar work that could potentially go stale (and at times, does) are some very interesting elements that push this record above the ‘good, but forgettable’ classification. Shit, who’d have thought mosh-ready breakdowns would mix nicely with epic choir vocals, as in “And Shot Each Other” or even Hayley Williams of Paramore’s soft pop crooning on the incredible “Then Came to Kill”? Regardless, they do, and this album is all the better for it.

Sure, there’s a bit too much going on at times that the band becomes overbearing, or contrastingly things just get a little too boring, like throughout most of “Heard This Noise”, but in the end there is some really crafty tracks to be heard here, with some slamming production and even great album artwork.

I’ll lay it out plainly and say that if you’re a fan of metalcore at all, this record is mighty tasty and deserves a listen.  [ END ]

Track Listing:

01. Back To Back
02. They Faced Each Other
03. They Drew Their Swords
04. And Shot Each Other
05. The Deaf Policeman
06. Head This Noise
07. Then Came To Kill
08. The Two Dead Boys
09. Forgive Me Nashville
10. The Trumpet

Run Time: 29:36