ENDLESS CHAOS — Paths to Contentment (review)

ENDLESS CHAOS — Paths to Contentment album cover

Album · 2017 · Technical Death Metal

4/5 · 2020-06-17
voila_la_scorie

I only got into death metal a few years ago and even though I have many of the classic albums plus a good stack of more recently released albums, I wouldn't consider myself an expect or connoisseur of death metal by any means. Still, if a band can do something that doesn't sound like something I already have heard a half dozen times, then I'll give them two open ears and one open mind.

So here comes Endless Chaos, a band that appeared on Kerrang's 2019 list of "20 Heavy Canadian Bands That You Need to Know Now." The remarks sounded promising and so I went over to BandCamp and found the band. A few quick cursory listens rewarded me with enough thrills that I decided to order the album, "Paths to Contentment" soon.

One of the things I really like about this album are the frequent uses of melodic lead guitar. Right from the start, there's almost a power metal/speed metal feel until the vocals come in and the music abruptly changes to brutal assault. But those melodic leads come back, sometimes reminding me of Megadeth. There's a very strong thrash metal feel in some of the songs, especially in the third track, "Stack Their Heads". The opening sounds like Sacrifice, with dive-bombing and wailing guitars. Once the song kicks into speed, it does sound like thrash metal pumped up with death metal vocals. In fact, the vocals effortlessly shift between a guttural bark and a black metal-ish, throat-shredding shriek/roar.

One thing I appreciate is that the band's music allows their bass player to come to the spotlight from time to time. Once again, I'll mention "Stack Their Heads" which has a part where the bass is singled out for a lead melody. The are some other parts that stood out for me where the guitars paused for a few seconds to allow the drums to pound out a tribal rhythm while the bass held the riff as in "Condemned to the Pit", or other little standout highlights of riff changes like in "Jackal" or melodic lead guitar breaks.

Another point I like is that even though Endless Chaos can scorch along at blistering speeds, they'll drop in a breakdown where the tempo slows a bit and the atmosphere is reset. I think it's their thrash side showing through when they do this.

"Paths to Contentment" is fast and furious but with attention to precision and switch-ups in the pace of the song. There are death metal albums I will listen to because the overall sound appeals to me and then there are albums I will listen to because there are tracks and parts of tracks that have those "favourite parts" I'm looking forward to hearing. This album is one of the latter kind.

There's only one disappointment, and that is that the album isn't even over 30 minutes. Given that their only other release is a three-song ep from 2014 that was only available as a download and on very limited edition vinyl, I would have loved if the band had added the ep's three tracks to this CD. I hope the next album will be a couple of songs longer. I really dig what their doing.