Spectacular display of Shock & Awe-core
I don't know how many press releases I've read that proudly declare the band in question "the new Converge" or some variation of such, only for the band to be boring, straight-laced and pedestrian; not worthy of being mentioned in the same sentence as Converge, let alone of taking their mantle. Well Chariots are the real deal. I just reviewed the new Malkovitch album, and whilst it certainly isn't something you'd want to play at a pensioners disco, compared to this it sounds like a collection of nursery rhymes sung by small kittens and fluffy bunnies.
One review I've read makes the comment that this is the record Converge's 'You Fail Me' should have been, and while this may seem like another example of journalistic over-enthusiasm, it really isn't. You see 'Daybreak' is right up there with anything that Converge, or any other band of their ilk for that matter, have ever produced.
Opener 'The Immortalist' rumbles into life with a menacing intensity; an avalanche of distorted screams from which the only respite is a barely perceptible pause for Emile's contemptuous cry "I guess that's why you’ll fit right in". 'Friends Forever' has a more elastic structure; languid guitars grind and bend over freeform drumming breaks before a soothing post-rock bridge cascades into a strained finale. The epic 'Armour Of God' is a largely restrained affair of gently reverberating progressions, momentarily exploding into a brief yet glorious car crash of dissonance. 'Eldorado'; home to one of the most brutally powerful openings this side of Bush's 'Shock & Awe' campaign, is a seething torrent of razor-sharp riffs and staccato disharmonies – you'll be picking splinters of this song out of your broken skin for weeks.
And don't go searching hopefully for a soothing instrumental that will allow you to catch breath – there isn't one. Throughout 'Daybreak', Chariots' blistering intensity burns against the acid-etched production to the point where the whole thing threatens to collapse under it's own ferocity, like a slide that's stuck in the projector and is starting to yellow and melt.
Describing Chariots' subtle blend of sounds is less easy than it may appear. Imagine combining the fractious hardcore of Converge with the avant-garde metal of Will Haven, Palehorse's affinity for sun-scorched over-distortion and Mogwai's haunting squalls, and you'll be batting on the right pitch. Whatever it is, the result is spectacular.