| News | | Guitar World Column | | Interviews | | Pictures | | Album Reviews | | Gig Reviews | | Release Dates | | History | | Articles | | Setlists | | Upcoming | | Contact |
Release Date: February 16th, 2010
Record Label: Mascot Records
My rating points:
|
|
Heathen's newest release, "The Evolution of Chaos" is a heavy hitting, powerful epic with enough power to turn any anti-thrash purist into a devout thrash fan. It's the band's first release in 19 years.
The album begins with an intense sitar intro, which creates an atmosphere of other-worldly mystery. The intro transitions perfectly into "Dying Season", a fast, heavy, and absolutely ripping track. Everything about this track screams pure thrash. Lee Altus' and Kragen Lum's guitars are in perfect harmony with each scale and riff played. The overall instrumentation on this track is absolutely superb. Jon Torres' bass playing is great, as is Darren Minter's drumming. The song is tied together in a neat little bow by David White's powerful vocal styling. The style of this song is different from a lot of the thrash I've listened to over the years. It has a lot of middle-eastern influence. A lot of Arabian scales. Lee and Kragen's solos do not disappoint on this one. Perfect length, great orchestration. This track is seriously a badass way to open an album.
The next track, "Controlled by Chaos", is another absolutely amazing track. It begins a bit slower than a normal thrash song, but it builds into a heavy and harmonious epic, with a beginning solo by Kragen. The song is steady, thrashy, and brutal. Musically, this track is a thrasher's wet dream. Intense solos, an equally intense rhythm section, insanely high-velocity vocals, and a surprise twist. Not one, but TWO solos by Gary Holt of Exodus fame! I couldn't think of anyone better for this job than Lee's musical brother to guest star on this track. Overall, this is a great track, a bit on the long side, with a running time of 7 minutes, 9 seconds. But it's worth every second of listening.
The best track on this album, in my opinion, is "A Hero's Welcome". It opens with a beautiful acoustic guitar intro, with a steady drum march behind it. It transitions from acoustic to overdriven perfectly. It keeps a very steady speed, not too fast, not too slow. The lyrics for this song are absolutely beautiful, and I believe that David White is a lyrical genius. A line that really sticks out for me is in the second verse. "There is peace as well as freedom, but they both come with a price, will we ever understand what it means to sacrifice?" At the 2:49 mark, it goes into a beautiful solo, and transitions back into it's beautiful acoustic intro. This song also features a spoken dedication to our troops at war by Adam Harrington. After the dedication, Kragen and Lee go into some fantastic solos and really give the song a bit of a kick. The solos are performed wonderfully, and fit very well into this track. This track is simply beautiful, no matter how you look at it. It's an absolutely fitting tribute to our brave men and women in the service who give their lives to defend us every day. Heathen have definitely paid their respects to our troops.
All in all, this album is fantastic. If you've never heard of Heathen, please go out and support a great band and pick up "The Evolution of Chaos". I honestly could not find anything wrong with this album. Lee Altus has found a great band in Heathen, and I hope they continue onward with their music. I will patiently await the arrival of their next album, and hopefully after hearing "The Evolution of Chaos" you'll love them too.
To buy the CD and for more information, please visit Heathen's official myspace.
Looking for the best cable deals? Check out Cox Phoenix!