Chronic Xorn – Death Destruction Sermon (2010)
July 1, 2010 by Madhav Ravindranath
Filed under Indian Albums, Reviews
This review is a first of sorts for Headbangers India. This is the first time a metal band from Kolkata has had their album reviewed on the site, and is also and the first album review for a band under Six Inch Nails Records, one of India’s more recent additions to the extreme metal scene. Death Destruction Sermon is the debut release by Chronic Xorn, a metalcore band from Kolkata and having watched them at the Summer Storm pre-party in Bangalore, I bought the album and decided to give it a spin.
The album begins with ‘Psychic Catastrophe’, an instrumental intro, spanning a little less than 3 minutes before bursting into ‘Afraid Of The Unseen’. The -core influences are immediately brought to the forefront, with breakdown leading into breakdown and melody leading into melody. On first listen, the band sounds like the progeny of Still Remains, All That Remains, Avenged Sevenfold and all the other bands that form the genre and repeated spins only reaffirmed that. Song #3, ‘The Funeral Song’ continues in the same vein. The band has talent, there’s no doubt about that. Juicy hooks, good drumming grooves and powerful growls make for quite an interesting listen. ‘Necropolis’ as well as the title song, ‘Death Destruction Sermon’ would be my picks off the album. I must state that although I personally found the melodies a little overdone and too cheesy for my liking, they were catchy and that’s probably what I enjoyed the most. The songs were running through my head long after the last song ‘My Little Obsession’ ended, and that’s probably one of the highlights the album has to offer. The music is good and kept me interested long enough to write this review and now, almost a month since I listened to it for the first time, I still find myself stretching out to spin this. Despite the shoddy artwork and the below-average production, the psychologically tempting cost of just Rs99 should convince you into picking this up. It’s worth a buy and a listen.
The production is a dampner..Music definitely has a lot of potential..Live they are much more exciting as compared to wat they sound on tape..The recording dosnt do justice to their talent..Need to bridge that gap..
I like their style.A very melodic version of metalcore.Probably the most melodic that I've heard.And the production wasn't THAT bad.Its just the recording levels that need to be cranked up.
Too much metalcore. The only thing that really impressed me was the guitar playing. I think a 4/5 is way way overrated. Probably a 2.5 or 3/5 at best. I'm sure they'll only get better but for now thats what the album rates as IMHO.
oops I guess the rating was for the article?
Oh and the artwork and CD production was abysmal. I told the band that as well the artwork was fail.
Yup. That's the article rating. And its public rating and not by the author of the article.
Last line of the article says, shoddy artwork and below average production.
The quality of the artwork and entire package would've been more suited for a Norwegian tr00 kvlt of the kvltest, black of the blackest metal band.
@Madhav – There is too much colour for a black metal band, KVLT bands only print in Black and white.
nothing as such.. i feel its an excellent work by a kolkata based metal band atleast the songs keeps on persisting in your mind and and hooks u up for 23 miniutes…. i luved it..CX/..
I found the album to be as catchy as a house on fire. The space between the first and the second track notched up my anticipation all the more, and yes I wasn't disappointed. The packaging is something that needs to be taken care of. But all the loose ends don't exist in the bigger picture where the music makes daMn sure to negate their nagging presence from one's mind. A 4.5/5 from me, not 'cause I'm a fellow Kolkatan, but this is the dose of Metalcore that I had been yearning for.
Cheers
m/
I was spinning this CD again yesterday and I must say, the licks are still catchy as ever. The drumming is tight and there’s some sweet picking there. \m/
Thanks a lot for the review and comments people!