“Ages Unsung” is a new record from
Ottawa-based band Chariot of the Gods. Upon first glance, this record appears
to be a competently executed melodic death metal record, drawing comparisons to
any of the common giants of the subgenre. This is where the band is at their
absolute best, as they deliver strong riffs, compelling melodies, and plenty of
aggression. It isn’t long, however, before the classic pitfall that nearly
every melodeath band falls into rears its head: clean singing. To be clear, I
prefer clean singing to harsh vocals. Stuff like Maiden, Priest, and so on just
can’t be topped. But melodeath bands (or perhaps more accurately: metalcore bands) have this unfortunate tendency to find the
whiniest individual they can for reasons completely unclear to me. In the case
of Chariot of the Gods, the guy doing their clean vocals isn’t so whiny as he
is just out of tune and technically deficient (he does get better as the record goes on though; the opener, "Tusk", has some painful examples). While the legendary Insomnium
could be said to have the same fatal flaw, the difference is that Insomnium’s
bleak clean vocals fit the dreary nature of their music. With Chariot of the
Gods, it distracts from the more metallic moments that crush everything.
The worst such instance is in “Through
Darkness and Decay”. This lengthier track starts off as a ballad that is what I
can only imagine bands like Five Finger Death Punch or Nickelback sound like.
The worst thing about this song is that it actually has the best moments on the
album! Once all of the garbage is out of the way, the band bursts into these
wicked Iron Maiden-esque harmonies that absolutely rule. It’s frustrating to
have such a diverse range of styles in one song because the payoff is absolutely
not worth it.
It’s always easy to focus on the negatives,
but to the band’s credit, there’s a lot going on here to like. Their growler
has a satisfying rasp that works perfectly atop the crunchy riffs that the band
consistently delivers. Most of the melodies are well-constructed and flow
within the context of the song, rather than the randomness that sometimes
infects melodeath. The guitar playing is absolutely ace, a fact that is
demonstrated any time there is a solo (the title track has an amazing sweeping
section, and later closes with even more shredding). Some of the tracks don’t
lean all that hard on the clean singing, and those are the moments when Chariot
of the Gods truly shines. The entire package presented by “Ages Unsung” might
be most comparable to a band like Killswitch Engage, but with less convincing
execution. The metal moments are as good as ever, but the remainder are
difficult to look past for me personally, which is the primary reason why “Ages
Unsung” will not garner much replay value.
Highlights
"War of the Gods"
"As the Sky Falls"
Final Rating
3.1/5 or 62%.
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