Albums•November 29, 2011•10,777 views

Full Blown Chaos Within The Grasp Of Titans

01. Trials Of Triumph 02. Chopping Block 03. Burning Age 04. Solemn Promise 05. Rise & Fight 06. Anchored Heart 07. Suffer In Silence 08. Life Of Sorrow 09. Hollowed 10. Vendetta 11. Against The Grain 12. Kingdom Undone 13. The Voorhees Complex

2006 Abacus Recordings

Our score 6

by Michael Gluck

11/4/2006

Enough bands have tried following in Hatebreed's footsteps to finally warrant a blockade to deter the practice from continuing. While certain old-schoolers in their late thirties like ex-Forced Reality and recent but now ex-100 Demons vocalist Pete Morcey returned to the scene following years of inactivity (after all, two-to-three minute chugs followed by churning breakdowns are a highly addictive and testosterone-awakening form of modern hardcore), many of the hardcore kids who grew up alongside the style in the nineties have grown tired of it. But New York's Full Blown Chaos ignore that pattern with the release of their sophomore full-length, Within The Grasp Of Titans, delivering another dose of primitive, down-tuned hardcore with great crossover potential. Unlike Bury Your Dead, whose newest album is an attempt to cash in on the clean nu-mosh trend, Full Blown Chaos remain rough enough around the edges to retain some hardcore credibility and a genuine sound. For the most part, Full Blown Chaos do the style justice even though they're ten years behind the eight-ball. Having ironically started as more of a NYHC band with their self-titled and Prophet Of Hostility EPs, it was the blatant metal influences and crushing Zeuss production on 2004's Wake The Demons that really got the ball rolling for them. So much so, that they've been touring nearly non-stop since its release with bands ranging from Sepultura and God Forbid to smaller hardcore bills. They've also just wrapped up a summer-long lockdown of the second stage at Ozzfest, and I can just guess how well "Rise & Fight" from the new album went over with the young crowd, with simple gang chants of "Rise! Fight!" spread generously throughout the song. But their sophomore full-length and Abacus Recordings debut still found a way to get written and recorded, and in that sense I get the impression that the process was rushed; for a band looking to gain prominence in an unrelentingly competitive popular metal scene while remaining on tour, rushing their new album had to have been a necessary evil. The songwriting isn't as developed as on Wake The Demons, and the ideas are not as commanding. The album starts off heavy, as expected, but largely average with the tracks "Trials Of Triumph," "Chopping Block," and "Burning Age" blowing by without too much notice. Ironically on their most accessible song to date, "Solemn Promise," the album finally starts firing on more pistons than it started on. Six songs in and "Anchored Heart" is the first track to exhibit the basic yet complete songwriting and mean riffs that made Wake The Demons so immediately satisfying, while "Kingdom Undone" (buried at the end of the album, no less) is the first to provide some of the European-tinged melody that crept in nicely on certain songs from Wake The Demons. With songs like "Vendetta," "Against The Grain," and "The Voorhees Complex," the band is just throwing thrash hail marys that couldn't have taken long to write. But all this nitpicking comes from a longtime fan, so chances are the album will serve its purpose and get kids moshing because there isn't much time to analyze riffs on the dance floor. Bottom Line: As the tough guy style has grown in popularity, many who were introduced to the scene on a steady diet of east coast mosh (before it became m0sh) since moved on to the eighties hardcore revival (or death metal, in my unfortunate case), complete with the habits of unearthing old bands from their graves for reunions, studying the sound for reproduction, and nailing down the fashion queues of the era. So as 3rd generation tough guy bands like Sworn Enemy, Full Blown Chaos and Bury Your Dead make sizeable gains in popularity, it's mostly tough n00bz fueling the phenomenon. Let's not forget that n00bz are essential for any scene to survive, both for its numbers and for being the official scapegoats of said scene. But for someone who isn't trapped in one side of the scene or another and likes heavy music with a groove, then well-done tough guy mosh like Full Blown Chaos can still be enjoyable.

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littlemac_ 11/4/2006 12:06:29 PM

fart

Full Blown Chaos Within The Grasp Of Titans

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