Label: Independent
Runtime: 41 Minutes
Released: September 16th, 2016
Something amazing has happened here. Forget all you
think you know about Einstein-Rosen bridges and throw your quantum mechanics
textbooks into the void of the closest wormhole, because Ottawa, Ontario-based
metalcore/melodeath band Chariots of the Gods has at last uncovered the
mysterious art of time travel. It's difficult to know exactly how it all went
down, whether a group of intrepid space/time-faring musicians traveled fifteen
years forward in time to remind us future-dwelling technophiles of a time before
smartphones and Spotify, or if some nefarious songsmith devised a means of
filtering our modern consciousness into the past, (no doubt all part of some
grand scheme of world-domination), but either way prepare yourself to rock like
it's 2002 all over again. So if you are or were a fan of early Killswitch
Engage, Shadows Fall, Trivium, or the early New England metalcore scene, you
might find this trip down memory lane a welcome diversion from the fast-paced
uncertainty of the digital age.
Ages Unsung is unabashed metalcore in the vein of
the aforementioned Killswitch Engage and Shadows Fall combined with a smattering of
Swedish melodic death metal sensibility a la mid-career In Flames, recorded
with acclaimed Montreal producer Chris Donaldson (Cryptopsy, The Agonist,
Beyond Creation, Neuraxis.) The whole
presentation is a notable step up from the band’s previous LP 'Tides of War': The
songs are tight and well-written, the production clean and crisp, and the
melodic rhythms and leads soar at exactly the right place in the mix. This isn’t
to say that the album is without a few missteps however. Lead single ‘Tusk’
stumbles when it hits its chorus, the clean vocals inexplicably high in the
mix, sounding somehow out of place and intrusive every time they pop up. Fortunately
this is a phenomena that doesn’t generally plague the rest of the album where
the cleans are layered and properly centered within the overall sonic assault.
Opener ‘Primordial Dawn’ ushers the album in with
a reserved piano intro leading into a chugged guitar that merges into the first proper track ‘Tusk’, a
straightforward barn-burner that won’t fail to get your head banging,
unfortunately let down by a tepid and poorly-mixed clean chorus. The remainder
of the album fares better with mid-album standouts like ‘War of the Gods’ and ‘As
the Sky Falls’, both of which contain excellent riffing and solos that never
get old spin after spin. The clean vocals also work much better here than they
do on ‘Tusk’, feeling natural and integrated rather than tacked on.
The album makes an unexpected turn on ‘Through
Darkness and Decay’, a rock ballad which takes more of its inspiration from
early 2000’s hard rock, the verses bringing to mind some of the more popular
Aaron Lewis/Staind tracks that defined an era of radio rock. Seriously, it’s
scary just how closely Christian Therien’s more subdued clean vocals resemble
Lewis’s. The track is solid, and offers a brief moment of respite from the
relentless Killswitch-esq guitar melodies that define the rest of the album.
Ages Unsung is a near flawlessly executed metalcore album that would have catapulted
Chariots of the Gods into stardom if it were released in 2002. The music in fun
and engaging and the playing feels vibrant and alive. Unfortunately for our
time-traveling troupe of troubadours, much of the musical landscape has changed
in the intervening years, and there remains an ill-deserved disdain within much
of the metal community for bands who openly fly the flag of metalcore. Chariots
aren’t doing anything new here, nothing that you haven’t heard before, but the
music is so well executed that it deserves at least a cursory listen, if only
to bob your head on a trip down memory lane. And if you get one of their many
ear-worm moments stuck in your head and you find yourself humming out a chorus
days later, you’ll be all the better for it. Check out Chariots of the Gods’
Bandcamp page here to stream the entire album for free.
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