Chaos Plague - Chaos Plague EP

Year: 2012

What is essential in any music album is that it should be memorable. The riffs must invade the listener’s mind in such a way that they haunt him long after he has hit the stop button. But this is a lesson that seems to be lost on many bands today, especially when it comes to the technical and progressive genres. Most of these bands try to cram in as much technical riffs in their songs as posiible and to leave the listeners in awe. The result of this is that the songs are instantly forgotten after the last note, though they manage to keep the listener enthralled for the length of the track. Still, there are quite a few bands that are an exception, who make their music both memorable and technical. Which of these categories does Chaos Plague fall under?

Chaos Plague is a Progressive Death Metal band hailing from Lombardy, Italy. Formed way back in 2006, the band hasn't been very active in terms of releases. After being around for almost  7 years, the band has only one EP to their credit. This self titled EP was released on 3rd January, 2012.

The band’s biography states that they are inspired by American Death Metal bands  like Death, Cynic, Pestilence etc. This influence, mainly from the Floridian Death Metal scene is blatantly evident in the band’s music. The EP starts off with a track called ‘In Death We Trust’, which reeks with the above mentioned influenced, albeit with a bit more progressive edge. The band deliver some easily memorable riffs in this track at a rapid pace and a hint of technicality. Melodic solos are a part of the package. The opener of the EP delivers a head bang worthy tune and sets the bar high for the tracks that follow.

‘Chirality’ follows suit and is a 7 minute long monster. The bass plays a more prominent role in this song and there are sections of the song where the bass takes the lead. The song follows the same pattern as the previous track for the first couple of minutes, before taking a big progressive twist with a clean melodic section. Now, most death metal bands would refrain from usage of clean vocals, especially in a début album. But that is not the case with Chaos Plague as they feature more clean vocals in the second and third track. If you are someone, who is put off by the above statement, then I urge you to give Chaos Plague a listen because they pull it off quite nicely.

Third track, ‘Sinner’s Regret’ starts off on a powerful note with the growls exploding right in the listener’s face. The technical riffs are abundant in this track. These riffs are interesting, if not very mind boggling. The song stays fine till the 2 and a half minute mark. This is where the clean, melodic section kicks in. The section that follows sounds like a completely different band and this can serve as a turn off.

The debut EP of Chaos Plague is almost very good, except for the last few minutes of it. The thing that is praiseworthy in this record is, that as technical and progressive as the riffs are, they are very memorable in the end.

Rating: 70%