CHAPTERS: “THE IMPERIAL SKIES” (A Review and A Song Premiere)

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Oct 232013
 

(In this post we present our second review of the new album by Chapters — this one written by TheMadIsraeli — as well as the premiere of a combined song from the new album: “March of the Puritan/Arising”.)

This review comes later than I had planned. I was going to publish something I had originally written but it just didn’t convey the passion I have for this album.  Neither did I feel, in hindsight, that I gave Chapters their musical due, or rather, I was missing the target as far as what they do.  The thing is, Chapters channel a musical era of metal that I was passionately into and couldn’t get enough of.  The fact that a band like this existed when I discovered them back in 2011 excited me, and that excitement hasn’t waned one bit.  Their new album The Imperial Skies is one of the best releases of the year, no doubt, and it re-captures the excitement of a musical movement that unfortunately got trampled underfoot by the bullshit metalcore explosion that occurred from 2005 onward.

Chapters are, ironically because of their British origin, New Wave of American Metal.  I don’t say this solely as a matter my own speculation or opinion, mind you. In the friendships I’ve developed with masterminds Joe Nally and Angus Neyra, we’ve discussed this and they pretty much agree.  While they do draw influences from Death and from Bay Area thrash, it’s bands such as Shadows Fall, Lamb of God, God Forbid, Himsa, and early All That Remains who are the foundation Chapters have built upon.  Whether you want to call it metalcore (which I argue that stuff was) or not, Chapters fully embrace the thrash/hardcore/melodic death metal combination in which those bands fully entrenched themselves.

As such, you get all the expected elements: Melodic technical guitar work, driving emotive melodic passages, vocals with a great deal of passion behind them that sound like they’re being delivered at the risk of the vocalist’s voice, and beautiful acoustic interludes.  I eat this shit up, always have and always will, but Chapters deliver it exceptionally well, leagues beyond anyone else who’s tried to capture this sound since its heyday. Continue reading »

CHAPTERS: “THE IMPERIAL SKIES”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Oct 042013
 

(Andy Synn reviews the debut album by the London-based duo known as Chapters.)

Phew… we’ve been waiting a while for this one haven’t we? But honestly… it’s worth the wait.

Now I have a confession to make. When it comes to the UK/British metal scene I simply tend not to like most of what’s presented in the metal press as being the paradigm of what this fair isle has to offer. That’s not to say I don’t love a lot of British bands (even a cursory search of the site will show up a plethora of UK acts who I’ve praised to high heaven over the years), it’s just that the ones who seem to get all the acclaim and accolades are only the ones who fit certain trends… trends which I simply don’t have any interest in.

And then there’s Chapters, and their phenomenal debut album The Imperial Skies. Continue reading »

“BEST” OF BRITISH

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  9 Responses »
Oct 192011
 

(As we announced HERE, NCS is co-sponsoring a UK tour beginning on October 24, headlined by Becoming the Archetype and including UK metal band Bloodguard, which is fronted by NCS writer Andy Synn. In this post, Andy provides more info about the other bands who will be appearing on the tour and also at a post-tour show that Bloodguard is doing.)

Hello everyone. As part of promoting our little tour coming up I thought I’d do a good deed and get some press out there for each of the bands who are joining us on the dates. Sort of a mass-exposure deal where hopefully there’ll be something for (almost) everyone!

As part of our week long festivities Becoming The Archetype and Bloodguard will be hitting:

Birmingham, The Actress & Bishop – Monday 24th October

Manchester, The Roadhouse – Tuesday 25th October

Nottingham, The Maze – Wednesday 26th October

London, The Purple Turtle – Thursday 27th October

And then, moving on from the dates with Becoming The Archetype, we have a show with Abgott:

Leicester, Lock 42 – Friday 28th October

So what bands are joining us? Well here they are… Continue reading »

NCS PRESENTS!

 Metal News  24 Responses »
Oct 122011
 

Is that not the most awesomest thing you’ve ever seen? Or at least the most awesomest thing you’ve seen in the last 5 minutes? And unlike the last thing musical event we presented, this one happens to be real, and there are two other real, related events in addition to this one.

Becoming The Archetype have announced an October/November European headlining tour in support of their latest album, Celestial Completion , which was released earlier this summer on Solid State Records and reviewed at NCS here. As part of that BEARDING EUROPE 2011 tour, the band will be playing three four dates in the UK, with support from a stellar line-up of UK metal bands, and we’re doing our part to help spread the word by co-sponsoring this BEARDING THE UK TOUR. The only band playing with BTA on all three dates is Bloodguard, who are fronted by our very own Andy Synn (congrats to Andy and the whole band for scoring these gigs).

On October 24, BTA will play Birmingham at The Actress & Bishop with Bloodguard and Haerken.. Tickets are £4. On October 25, BTA will be playing Manchester’s Roadhouse with Bloodguard and Bisonhammer. Tickets are £7 in advance from http://www.theroadhouselive.co.uk/. On October 26, BTA will be hitting  The Maze in Nottingham, with Bloodguard, Daor, and Incinery; advance tickets on sale HERE. And then on October 27, BTA will wreck Camden’s Purple Turtle with Talanas, Bloodguard, Chapters, and Ruins of Earth. Advance tickets are available for a paltry £7 here: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/137045

And by the way, you can find out more about Talanas by reading Andy’s review of their new album HERE , and you can get an introduction to Chapters via TheMadIsraeli’s write-up HERE. After the jump, check out the other UK tour posters with our humble name appearing on the top and see BTA’s entire European tour schedule, with support from Immortal Souls and Beyond the Dust after leaving the UK. Continue reading »

BANDS YOU NEED TO HEAR: CHAPTERS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  29 Responses »
Sep 152011
 

(TheMadIsraeli wrote this post about a UK band called Chapters.)

If your first thought about this video was, “Fuck, those are some savage vocals,” you wouldn’t be alone. The man you see in this video is vocalist/bassist of Chapters Joseph Nally ripping his own vocal chords a new asshole. So what are Chapters exactly? Death metal? Yeah. Melodic? Yeah. Progressive? You bet your ass. Disjointed song writing the likes of which hasn’t been heard since Death? Right here in spades.
Chapters is based in Reading, England, a place that has become an absolute hot bed for metal as of late, most notably for melothrashers Sylosis. Chapters has actually been a consistent touring mate for Sylosis, and has been hard at work for a long time on their debut album The Imperial Skies. Unsigned and approaching the project with an ambitious DIY ethic, it seems these guys may be ready to take the world by storm once this album drops. Which should be soon, although no date is presently set.

I can tell you just by the two songs this band has released that this is some of the most punishing yet compelling metal you’ll hear all year. Joseph Nally’s distinctive blood-curdling shrieks and roars offset the melodic (or non melodic) prog-textured riffing of guitarists Angus Neyra and Máté Bodor in a way I wish I would hear more of. Combine this with drummer Michael Williams’ technical yet to-the-point drum assaults, and I think we may be looking at a new MVP entering the metal world. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »