Consolidated down to skeletal necessity and unbroken by the passage of time Huntsville, Alabama-based duo CHAOS INCEPTION return for a third full-length album intending to reprise their role as keepers and triumphal innovators within the strictures of infernal pure death metal craft. With ‘Vengeance Evangel‘ their temperament is one of morbid terror-stricken accost, a violent avenger and narrator for their trip through fiery but never too labyrinthine realms. Best known as brutally struck, technically steep and thrillingly set masters of riffcraft of the canonical death metal lineage, the band aren’t only returning to keep the faith so to speak but to distort expectations and insert more of their own hand. Here they’ve added their own deeper touch upon the best traditions of the sub-genre while upholding the ruthless standards that’d birthed their own initial escalation of the form.

Chaos Inception formed circa 2008 between folks who’d long been involved in some of the most supreme extremism out of Alabama at the time including drummer Gary White (Fleshtized, Convergence From Within), guitarist Matt Barnes (Quinta Essentia), bassist Cam Pinkerton (Spinecast) and vocalist Chris White (Blood Stained Dusk) most of whom had various experience in bands dating back to the mid-to-late 90’s at least. Their focus for those first three crucial years and two albums was squarely upon the generational extremity applied to Florida death metal style in the late 90’s/early 2000’s where popular bands (Hate Eternal, Krisiun) and lesser knowns (Centurian, Diabolic) all spoke to what I’d consider the precision strikes and technical arrangements of ‘Blessed are the Sick‘ given to a new generation of brutality and some Benton-esque cadence. When their debut LP (‘Collision with Oblivion‘, 2009) released the most recent band to set a reasonable standard, or, any way forward with this type of sound was probably Nox‘ ‘Ixaxaar‘ and for die-hard fans of this canonically relevant style (myself included) these folks were the new standard, carrying a ‘Conquering the Throne‘-level assault within their efforts.

By 2010 Barnes had joined Monstrosity and simultaneously kept up with Quinta Essentia but the band hadn’t slowed down, having recorded a second LP (‘The Abrogation‘, 2012) in 2011. This’d mark the end of the original line-up at this point which’d officially traded hands with a new vocalist and a bassist by ~2016 or so (see also: Black Hole Deity for ex-members.) Because that second album was even more popular than the first and drew far more eyes and ears upon the band’s work as a freshly brutal take with an insane focus on the riff there has been some persistent demand and/or excitement surrounding a new album for many years; The appeal of Chaos Inception wasn’t/isn’t limited to their loose categorization with other infernal USDM inspired bands or thier production values, of course those elements helped folks know what they were getting into but their strength has always been centered around the riff and the vortex of their attack. While the conversation on the first album centered around a new brutality the second album had more folks recognizing the brilliance of said riffcraft and for what its worth my expectations going into this album centered around keeping those standards impossibly high.

The years weren’t empty and hands weren’t idled. While I know very little about the road to ‘Vengeance Evangel‘ just yet it is suggested as the uncompromised vision of Barnes, who’d necessarily reduced the band to a skeleton crew of Gary White on vocals with session drums coming from the incredible Kévin Paradis. By 2017 they’d decided that’d be the main line-up with White possible performing the drums, Monstrosity‘s comeback hit in 2019, in 2020 Barnes performed guitars on Diabolic‘s comeback record. On some level doing things the right way, putting together something that counts simply takes time and rolling with the punches and it sounds like there were obstacles cropping up along the way. Back in a 2021 interview the guitarist and main songwriter suggested “the new album runs more of the gamut – it goes from total defeat and despondency to triumph and overcoming” and the band announced the recording process was done in 2022. The reason that I’ve leaned into the years in between a bit is to pull the impatient listener’s sights away from instant gratification and towards the humanity of creating such demanding, inhuman music.

Another remark which holds arguably the greatest weight in approach of ‘Vengeance Evangel‘ is the need to rethink the layers of this type of death metal album, moving away from wall-to-wall blasts, cutting some of the “better riff on top of a decent one” type composition which comes from the nausea of ‘Blessed are the Sick‘ (see: “Falsificator” opening) and push for a taut and direct channeling of Chaos Inception‘s fire. As we feel the razor cutting through our portal unto new flesh and “Artillery of Humwawa” lands its opening blows we find a burly bass guitar tone lifted above the cacophonic riser firing off nearby, lending this album a well-defined low end with a mean edge to its sound. Point being that the space they’ve allowed for that bass guitar presence partially comes from pulling away from the dual rhythm guitar chaos found on certain songs in the past. To my ear this dense but spacious mix (via Ad Nauseam‘s Andrea Petucco at MSTR Sound Studio) pushes the sound closer to say, ‘Ixaxaar‘ or even ‘Supreme Evil‘ in terms of the shotgunned salvo up front (and the title track later on) since we’re not far from unheard-of munitions.

The one-two stretch between “La Niebla en el Cementerio Etrusco”, an almost ‘Love of Lava‘-worthy groove and wobbling riff, ’til the forceful dagger of “10,000 Dead by Pincer” hits helps to break up the constant hailing fire of the first half. The latter of the two songs leans into its brutal Immolation-esque trampling step to great effect, easily one of my favorite pieces for this quick-burning rhythmic stagger as well as the accomplished lead that rings throughout the second half of the song. Granted these are all ~3-4 minute death metal songs, densely set and not prone to relentless repetition as one’d expect from this style, or, school of canonical death. All of this should begin to suggest that leads at least present some extra interest to many of these songs even if at the end of the day, sure, the crowds will mostly form for the level of performance put into these riffs and their imposing, triumphal quality.

The ramping sweeped-out leads that hit on “Falsificator” offer one of countless examples of Barnes‘ lead guitar work stretching even further into the theme presented by each song, an extra note of personality missing from most any album one could think of inspired by Azagthothian guitar playing. In that particular case the leads direct us down the sparking tunnel of a short and wailing piece but throughout the album Chaos Inception have taken some inspiration from Jazz guitarists of a certain era in building phrases which are still death metal inspired, quick and spastic reaches, but lend a relevant escalation to the moment they are assigned. On “Thymos Beast” we find more chaotic spraying of diving and shredding fare, the solo on “Blade of Reckoning” slowly escalates toward its increasingly frantic peak and we find this type of ramped-up shred feeding some later songs (“The Omegaddon” especially). This doesn’t mean you’re listening to an improvised Joe Pass style solo on a brutally blasted death metal record but that they’ve made sure the leads add something of their own to most pieces, at least something with more brain-engaging interest than say, Kerry King‘s leads added to ‘Divine Intervention‘.

Our trip through ‘Vengeance Evangel‘ only appears to be spiraling downward with increasing intensity as the last three songs manifest faster, more acrobatic riffcraft with “Empire of Prevarication” being the major piece to showcase what is new and Chaos Inception‘s own vision, one which includes pterodactyl shrieks and odd-timed riffs in loosened grooves, a feral and infernally brutal high point on the album for my own taste. The title track had implied some of this insanity but it feels like we’ve hit upon the depth of the experience as we near its end and crash into the almost dissonantly ringing drill through the end of closer “Tusk of the Black Sow” and find a more sprawling endpoint. While a play-by-play through the end reveals a bashed-at, brutal and riff intensive experience it should take some time to pull nuance, the wild-handed touch of the guitar compositions and what differentiates each piece on the album. From the production, the riff count, and the immensely demanding work behind the kit this definitely feels like a pure death metal album writ to condense, amplify and jettison the band’s expected sound into something more clearly their own.

This type of riff-obsessed album written by a beyond capable guitarist focused on the high standards of Floridian/Brazilian intensity in death metal is naturally in line with own specific preference, the bias is there in droves for the sake of next to no-one making records of this caliber executed to this level of precision anymore. That isn’t to say that I’m pining for the old ways so much as I’d found ‘Vengeance Evangel‘ riddled with timeless qualities inherent to death metal’s next-gen escalation and from an artist still interested in pushing those boundaries to brain-warping and finger gnarling extremes riff-by-riff, the hard way. That is to say that there is a foot-tapping extremism to this release that gives me ye olde tunnel vision, locks my brain into the rally which ensues as it clobbers and strikes forth. In this way my expectations of Chaos Inception were well met but with some surprising ease to their action, freneticism with points of steadied pace or pause that help keep it all from being a complete sensorial crush.

This maniac level of attention paid to detail also translates to the aesthetic of ‘Vengeance Evangel‘ as we find the main cover art from the brilliant David Glomba in depiction of gore-grinding ancient bio-machinery beset by teeth and the spectre of a decapitated desiccated corpse returning for vengeance, wearing the severed head. Though I don’t have the lyrics for this release and I don’t know what this horror is all about it fits in well as a representative image, creating a unique aesthetic for the album aided by the kind of 70’s LP feeling frame set around it. From my point of view all of these elements add up to a brilliant standard for death metal of any age, one that turns the focal point of the craft back to the riff and still finds opportunities to show the personality of the composer as often as it showcases their incredible skill and refined hand. A very high recommendation.

[Click/tap here to route to our PREMIERE of the album ahead of its release date]

https://lavadome.bandcamp.com/album/vengeance-evangel

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