UMUR
"Chaos Manifesto" is the fifth full-length studio album by Swedish death metal act Demonical. The album was released through Agonia Records in March 2018. It´s the successor to "Darkness Unbound" from September 2013 although the two full-length studio albums are bridged by the April 2015 "Black Flesh Redemption" EP. After the release of "Darkness Unbound" some members of Demonical opted to reform Centinex, and while also keeping Demonical alive, Centinex released an album in 2014 and another one in 2016. So some of the members of Demonical have been busy since the release of "Darkness Unbound", but "Chaos Manifesto" finally cements the fact that the members playing in both bands intent to keep both acts active.
While Demonical started out playing a dark, grim, and brutal old school Swedish death metal style, the last couple of albums have shown them incorporate more and more melodic elements to their sound, and that tendency is continued on "Chaos Manifesto", which is a hybrid death metal and melodic death metal release. Demonical obviously have a great affection for both the old school HM-2 toned Swedish death metal style, but they don´t want to be limited to that style and therefore challenge themselves and their audience with melodic and sometimes even epic elements. I´m not sure I always think the combination works, but at least Demonical are trying to develop a more personal sound.
"Chaos Manifesto" is well produced, featuring a fat, meaty, and detailed sound production, which suits the material well. It´s on all parameters another good quality Demonical release, although I do miss the savage brutality of their first two releases. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.