ssmarcus Alt-metal veterans Chevelle are back with their fifth studio album... to debut in the top 10? Huh? When did they drop all these mega successful albums? Where the hell have I been? Surely most of those must have been released in the early to mid 'oughts - right? Well... no. Apparently this is already the third top 10 since 2014!

While I fondly remember growing up listening to Chevelle's 2002 debut Wonder What's Next, much of its charm faded fast as I grew to appreciate more technically sophisticated metal and progressive music. Too heavy to be remain commercially relevant but too simplistic for proper metal fans, I hardly would have expected Chevelle to survive rock's fall from commercial dominance in the almost two decades since their debut. And yet here they are, nine albums in and more successful than just about any of their alt-metal and post-grunge peers could ever have hoped to be. How did Chevelle do it?!

I am not familiar enough with band's back catalogue or business history to fully answer this question. But Chevelle's latest release, NIRATIAS, which demonstrates the band's commitment to growth as musicians and songwriters, firmly solidifies, in my book, Chevelle's place amongst modern hard rock's elite "survivors," approaching the inner circle of artists like The Foo Fighters, Deftones, and Tool.

As the album's cover art and psyched-out title suggest, NIRATIAS, an acronym for Nothing Is Real And This Is A Simulation, is an album with near progressive ambition. On tracks like "Mars Simula" and "Self Destructor," big and melodic riffs are accompanied by playfully soaring vocals. The riffing and bass on "Peach" and "Ghost and Razor" are unmistakably but tastefully Tool inspired. So epic and triumphant was the track "Remember When," I was praying the band would, by the end, segue into a reprisal of the "Send the Pain Below" chorus.

The record's weakness lies with the various pyschedelic interludes and piano-based spoken word closing track. While the verdict is still out on the artistic merit of these passages, they do not substantially detracts from the overall experience of listening to this record.

Unitron "Dead last with a drumroll, when the dam blows"

Chevelle is one of the few bands that almost always invokes fascinating imagery with both their cryptic lyricism as well as being masters of atmosphere on many of their records. Since 2009's Sci-Fi Crimes, the band have developed such a unique sound that they can only produce. With two masterpieces under their belt, the aforementioned Sci-Fi Crimes and especially 2014's La Gárgola, Chevelle is here with their eighth studio album.

La Gárgola showed the band exploring new territory, with an addition of sludge metal elements and the atmospheric wandering vibe of post-rock. The North Corridor continues those developments, especially with increasing the crushing sludge metal ten-fold. Perhaps one reason I opened up with that lyric from the devastating sludgy attack of the eight-minute closer, "Shot From a Cannon", is because it fits in with how this album can feel. The chaos that occurs as a dam blows can be brutal, and this album can often represent this chaos delivering blow after blow until all is laid to waste. While that would ordinarily be a bad thing, when it comes to a crushingly heavy metal album, it's sublime.

Every song is incredibly emotive, with almost all of them being sludgy and crushingly heavy. Pete Loeffler's vocals are as strong and emotional as ever, but his screams and low deep bellows have increased and improved. Just take a listen to his chaotic screams during the chorus of "Last Days" along with his bellows on the crushing "Shot From a Cannon". His guitar solos are absolutely spine-chilling, having that beautiful sense of melancholy that the band is so well at having especially on opener "Door to Door Cannibals". Dean Bernardini's bass rumbles throughout the album, with the resonance of an earthquake or a cannon blast. Sam Loeffler's drums are chaotic and immensely heavy. Of course, the band knows how to leave some breathing room for the listener, this time in the form of "Punchline". A mellow track dominated by haunting atmospherics as was "Twinge" from the previous album, it certainly matches the melancholic beauty of the aforementioned track.

The lyrics match the powerful haunting music, and made even stronger with Pete Loeffler's devastating vocal performance. As always, the cryptic lyricism really captures the imagination of the listener even while not describing what it may actually about. Call it "Surrealist Metal" if that makes any sense, with the band being able to have a similar effect in music as an artist like Rene Magritte has in his paintings. While I've mentioned it a couple times already, the colossal "Shot From a Cannon" really does beat you over the head with a sludgehammer not only with it's music but the striking pictures it can paint in one's head.

This is easily the best album of 2016, as well as one of the greatest albums I've ever heard. I thought it would be hard to beat La Gárgola as my favorite Chevelle album, but I think they did it. Every song is a complete masterpiece, with nothing coming close to being a weaker moment. If you have not heard Chevelle yet, or heard the old albums several years ago, I highly recommend checking out La Gárgola and this new masterpiece from the band. These two albums have solidified Chevelle as one of the leading metal acts of today in my book, with few bands being able to come close to touching their emotive mastery. Hope you found this review helpful, feel free to comment!

Unitron La Gárgola is the seventh studio album from alternative metal band Chevelle. Returning from a three-year gap after the good but inconsistent Hats Off to the Bull, Chevelle came out with another masterpiece that is not only even darker than before but even heavier as well. The band steps into sludge metal territory as well as brooding post-rock ambiance, the aforementioned styles blending right in with the band's depressive alternative metal sound.

After the menacing chimes that open up the album, your skull is blasted with the crushing riffing of "Ouija Board". It's one of the most blistering tracks of the band's catalog, as well as one of my favorites. Plus, the brooding bridge of this sludgy song sounds like it came straight out of a Mastodon album, which is a very fitting and welcome addition to the band's sound. La Gárgola perfectly comes together as an album, with the aforementioned track going straight into another masterpiece, "An Island". This song's got absolutely crushing grooves, with some amazing subtle bass playing as a syncopated drone. "Take Out Gunman" was a perfect choice for a single, fitting in with the dark and crunching heaviness of the rest of the album while having a catchy hook to get listeners (like me!) invested.

That's just the first three tracks! This album is just packed with skull-crushing, blistering, rampaging, sludgy, and punishing riffing, rumbling bass, and heavy beating of drums. Just take a listen to the ending riff of "Choking Game" for proof of that. Pete Loeffler gives some of his best vocal performances on this album. "Hunter Eats Hunter" and "Under the Knife" are up there with that opening song as my favorites. Loeffler's screams on these are stark and brutal, and the guitar grinds its teeth while beating the listener over the head with a sludge-hammer (get it?). The latter provides great contrast however, with Loeffler singing some calmer vocals in between delivering his gruff screams with much conviction.

The album isn't without it's softer moments though, like I mentioned at the beginning of the review, the band never leaves their softer melancholy sound behind. "One Ocean" has an almost U2-esque sound to it, and it's okay, but it's certainly the only song on the album I'd call a bit on the weaker end. "Twinge" on the other hand, the other softer song, is an absolutely beautiful finale to the album. This brings in the post rock ambiance that I mentioned, but mixes with some very beautiful melancholy melodies that bring tears to my eyes.

This album is a masterpiece, if you like depressive alternative metal with a strong sense of brutality, this is essential. It's hard for me to pick a favorite Chevelle album, but this may very well be it. This is the album that got me to love the band, and it's among their best albums either way. One of my favorite albums of all time, from one of my favorite bands of all time. Hope you found this review helpful, feel free to comment!

Unitron Hats Off to the Bull is the sixth studio album from alternative metal band Chevelle. While Sci-Fi Crimes saw the band really strengthen their own sound, especially on the melancholy end, Hats of to the Bull delivers some more songs on the punchy side. There is still some of the melancholic magic of the previous album to be heard here, but the album is overall pretty inconsistent.

For every amazing song, there are a few fillers. "Face to the Floor" and the title cut are among the killer punchy songs, and the title cut features the band's now signature rumbling basslines. The crushing bass sound really makes this song sound that much heavier, with it working with the crunching guitar to create a wall of sound. The lyrics are great too, but can be interpreted in multiple ways in typical Chevelle fashion.

Out of the melancholy songs, "Revenge" is easily my favorite and perhaps favorite on the album. The song retains this mellow but dark guitar riff that follows Loeffler's incredibly powerful emotive vocal performance. "Same Old Trip" and "Envy" are two other highlights.

Hats Off to the Bull is a pretty good album, but has a bit too much filler and doesn't have the same consistency that the albums that bookend it do. If you're looking for some melancholic and aggressive alternative metal, it's a good choice, but for someone first getting into the band I'd pick one of the albums that bookend it first. Hope you found this review helpful, feel free to comment!

Unitron Sci-Fi Crimes is the fifth studio album from alternative metal band Chevelle. Two years after the release of the weak Vena Sera, Chevelle began to explore some new territory with 2009's Sci-Fi Crimes, especially on the lyrical front.

Chevelle always knows how to make a great album opener, and "Sleep Apnea" continues that trend, blasting a heavy riff in your face as you turn it on. The band continues their depressive alternative metal sound here, but adds in a few things to give the album a different tone. Some of the more alternative rock-leaning elements of the previous album are here, but the band uses them much better here. It's used more atmospherically here though, along the lines of a band like Incubus. "Jars" shows this sound really well, combining heaviness and a bittersweet atmosphere.

Speaking of, most of this album has just that. It manages to sound dark and unsettling while having that bittersweet melody to balance everything out. The band manages to balance and combine sounds incredibly on this album. A great example is one of my favorite tracks, "Fell into Your Shows", which begins with muted riffing and unsettling sound effects before bringing in a sound that mixes headbanging riffs and great soloing with a sound reminiscent of Finger Eleven's early material. "Highland's Apparition" is an acoustic piece, and easily one of the band's best of the kind, using the album's overall sound to it's advantage. Don't worry though, right after that the band comes in with the blasting riff of "Roswell's Spell". Oh, and the bonus tracks are great too, especially the crushingly heavy "The Gist".

The lyrics here have taken a turn from the cryptic personal lyrics of previous albums, to exo-politics. Many of the lyrics tackle U.F.O.'s and other ideas of that ilk, as you may gather from song titles such as "Highland's Apparition", "Mexican Sun", and "Roswell's Spell". As well as the lyrics being different, so is the production and recording. This was Chevelle's first recorded live in the studio as a band. This gives the album a much more real and raw sound, which it really benefits from.

As solid as most of their discography was at this point, Sci-Fi Crimes really elevated the band's sound and I think this is when the band really found their own sound. There's few weak moments to be found here, and certainly one of the first albums I'd recommend to anyone wanting to get into the band. The band's cryptic nature, heaviness, and melody is retained while developing themselves into what can only be called their own sound. Hope you found this review helpful, feel free to comment!