Black metal is good for you

Ever since Nachtmystium decided that it wanted to deviate from the black metal fold and have its songs featured in Guitar Hero games, I’ve been mourning its passing almost weekly. What once was one of the mightiest, most innovative bands in the genre is now a hull of its former self, getting checks cut from Activision to write black metal tunes with four-on-the-floor drum tracks.

A bigger shame in the metal world, there never was.

Thank god some of its ex-members decided against that career choice, though, because without poor credibility decisions such as those, the metal community would not have bands like Chrome Waves. And once you hear this record, you may forget all about Nachtmystium’s nigh-unlistenable new school doodoo.

The record is eponymous, which is a good sign right out of the gate—album names are usually for suckers, and suckers these gentlemen are not. Besides, Jeff Wilson of Nachtmystium, Atlas Moth vocalist Stavros Giannopolous and Gates of Slumber drummer Bob Fouts round out the case of Chrome Waves.

If you’ve never heard of those bands, it’s OK. I just did both you and the band a favor, because Atlas Moth’s An Ache for the Distance and Gates of Slumber’s Conqueror just sold copies to you, the reader. Congratulations.

Before heading into the record, the band sounds like the best parts of Nachtmystium’s Assassins mixed with a hybrid strain of equal parts At the Gates and Envy. That is to say, you’ll get plenty of psychedelic, unrelenting black metal with some serious post-rock structuring and the occasional riffing of Gothenburg-inspired metal. These three things together form a real winning combination—Chrome Waves’ self-titled record is one of the best metal albums since Agalloch’s Marrow of the Spirit.

Giannopolous is a stunning metal vocalist, and it’s track two, “Height of the Rifles,” where you’ll hear his jaw-dropping range and vocal ability. You’ll wish he fronted 90 percent of current metal bands. While Fouts and Wilson provide an incredible instrumental array (Fouts provided the entire rhythm section on this record), Giannopolous is the real star of the show.

His voice drips raw emotion; it’s viscous enough to chew and rich enough to seep into the cracks of the most hardened metal heart. With any other vocalist, Chrome Waves just might not work. The musicianship isn’t just spot-on; it’s very dependent on other ingredients, like a perfect Manhattan: Without the bourbon, it’s just vermouth and bitters.

As far as the actual tracks go, the aforementioned second track is a masterpiece, and easily one of the best black metal tracks I’ve heard in years. It takes you places you almost forgot black metal could; soaring highs, ungodly lows and plenty of riffs are all present.

One thing that should be expressly noted is the album’s top-notch production. Most black metal records sound as if they were recorded in one shot, with one microphone in a tiled bathroom. Instruments and voices fight for their spots on the output and the whole thing sounds a mess. Chrome Waves’ production makes sure that every note has its own comfortable pocket of mylar on the master tapes, and the mix is much richer as a result.

By the closing of track three, “Light Behind a Shadow,” one thing is clear: in three tracks, Chrome Waves is the benchmark that all other contemporary black metal should strive for. The band employs tasteful amounts of effects and synthesizers, the latter of which, in addition to guitars, is supplied solely by Wilson.

A very apparent theme on the record is the core of black metal with traces of many other metal subgeneres. While shriek-y monster-esque vocals and blast beats are often the hallmark of a regular black metal band, Chrome Waves changes it up by the end of “Light Behind a Shadow,” transforming seamlessly into a plodding, blackened stoner metal that would make Down-era Phil Anselmo’s blood thicken.

A similar dirge appears on “Blackbird,” the album’s triumphant closer.

A common yet welcome aspect of the record is that most tracks will, without much warning, completely deconstruct themselves into epic, breathtaking arias. If you’re not paying attention, you’ll often wonder if you’re still listening to the same track. You are.

This is an album that handsomely rewards a steeled attention span. It’s a rare anomaly among six-track albums, that the listener is so exponentially rewarded in such a way. The final track, “Blackbird,” sounds like the best closing-credits song you’ve ever heard—it even ends with a slick acoustic guitar and synthesizer tapestry.

It’s hard to say anything bad about Chrome Waves’ offering (other than six tracks not being nearly enough), but it says plenty. Chrome Waves says in six songs what takes the majority of other black metal bands decades of records to say. Buy this now.