Monday, December 26, 2011

Album Review: The Chariot - Long Live



If you ever find yourself in a pit and you see the guitarist crowd surf by and then notice the bassist is right next to you in the pit throwing his instrument to the rafters then it is safe to assume you are at a Chariot show. Known for their intense live performances and cult like following of devoted fans The Chariot has created a legacy on feedback and destruction. 


Well it’s been almost 3 years now since the release of Wars and Rumors of Wars in late 2009 and The Chariot is back with a vengeance on Long Live.

Long Live is a 10-track monster of a full length laden with distortion, feedback, and all out fun. If you haven’t heard of these guys before the best way to describe the sound would be orderly chaos. Every song on this album seems to be held together by a thin thread that’s fraying at the edges. Every track is like a wall of dissonance and feedback ordered into a rhythm revolving around Josh Scogans guttural and emotion filled screams. But make no mistake this is not simple music there are time signature changes left and right and some great off time stuff on tracks like "The Heavens."  While being straight up heavy Long Live has lots of great fun moments and even comical parts like the random sample in the end of "Calvin Makenzie." But make no mistake there is a lot of really great lyrical work on this album like

May the history book read of all of our names?
Be it blood, be it ink, but at least we were free
This is only but a fraction of what I've got to say
It must be said, it must be sad
If I leave this earth tonight may it be said that I spoke my peace
I spoke with the wrath of his grace
Calm rose: come violent wind
Oh we stand hand in hand and we walk without fear
This is a revolution” –The Chariot  Song: The City

The Chariot also really likes keeping songs feeling fresh through their tempo changes and by never letting a song settle into one riff for to long. Songs like "David De La Hoz" really exemplify this because of how many times they change riffs and by the slow section with Dan Smith from Listener rambling passionately over a drum driven build up that ends up turning into a breakdown filled with some of the dirtiest guitar and bass tones you will ever hear. Honestly the guys from The Chariot are masters at making ugly sound amazing. You could desecrate amps for hours, detune your equipment till they fell to pieces, and still never create sounds as dirty as what the guys from The Chariot have crafted on this piece of art.

Long Live is yet another beautiful piece of dissonance created by the might Chariot and is beyond deserving of a listen.

10 / 10

Review By: Jimmy Bishop


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