Chronicle are a brand new act out of Denmark and “Welcome the Darkness” is their first foray into the scene. The 4-track EP lays down
some good thrash-y melodic death metal promising of stronger things from the
band in the future.
From the first spin it’s evident that the band is still
trying to seek out its own sound, because the EP encompasses a heap of
variation and every single track brings something new to the table. The opener
‘Hell is for Heroes’ is a nice mixture of melodic death vocals and thrash metal
riffs with the Bay Area thrash influence shining in the guitar work and drum
beats. Whereas ‘The Iconoclast of Tomorrow’ brings out the much faster Teutonic
thrash riffs and drum beats from the band. The last track ‘For Our Fallen Ones’
has almost a Doom/Progressive/Groove metal vibe to it, and feels completely
different from the remainder, however is one of the strongest tracks on the
album.
The drumming on the EP by Jari Sielemann deserves a mention,
it is extraordinarily energetic and brings the thrash vibes into the music in a
perfect manner. Lasse "Hyggefar" Johansen bass additionally stands
out on ‘Blizzard of Blood’ and the closing track, but gets droned out in the
two thrash-ier songs.
Given the time and budget constraints the band worked
through to unleash the EP, the production value is quite good on the record.
The drums sounded slightly too loud in the initial spins, but grow on the
listener as time passes.
As with several start-up bands, the debut EP is a mixed bag
with an amalgamation of the different influences the band members bring in. The
band can with time definitely realize their own footing in the sound they want,
till then get a copy of their debut EP and give it a spin!
