Oh, brother, this review is so long overdue that
it's almost embarrassing. The excuse? Family and work life in general, and a
long, long list of other reviews to be done, of course. The reason is certainly
not Chained's music. I haven't been avoiding it as you sometimes feel like doing
as a reviewer when you're presented to some of the semi-crap out there.
Chained's music is by no means crap. It's good, solid groove metal with an
old-school thrash basis. Do you know Mustasch? It's a Swedish band that has
gained some popularity with their Black Sabbath/Metallica inspired metal. Why do
I all of a sudden mention Mustasch here? For the simple reason that I find it
interesting that their Swedish compatriots from Chained remind me a lot of
Mustasch. The two bands share a lot of the same sound and their singers have
similar ways of handling the vocal performance, too.
So, if you do know Mustasch, just pretend them with a much more Pantera
influenced expression, then you pretty much have Chained. Then add a bit of
Megadeth and Anthrax, and you're there. Although the Swedes don't score high on
the originality-metre, I cannot help liking this just because they groove
excellently and make the neck muscles want to go from the first instance.
Groove metal and old-school thrash fans, check this out - definitely worth your
pocket money!
