Band:	Chained And Desperate
Album:	Divine Authority Abolishment
Style:	Black metal
Release date:	July 29, 2011
A review by:	Doc G.

01. Nine Deaths In August
02. Rely On Fears
03. Bridge From Theism
04. Chained
05. Ariadne's Thread
06. Irrational
07. Divine Authority Abolishment
08. Iconographies
09. Curtains Of Cold

Goods news everyone! Listening to melodic black metal no longer automatically makes you a wuss (everything else you do does). It's ok, here's something to shove into your ear-hole that is equal parts melodic & catchy, as well as vicious and dark. As a bonus, it doesn't suck.

Now that I'm through with the trolling (for now), let me tell you, Chained And Desperate are really onto something here. The first thing that's noticeable about this is the...feel to the whole thing. While a good majority of black metal bands will always sit comfortable with somewhat distant sounding production, Chained And Desperate are pretty damn proud of these riffs, using a production that gives Divine Authority Abolishment a more up-close feel, making all the guitar work very clear and precise. A lot of the times this sounds quite similar to Skeletonwitch. In fact, if you took Skeletonwitch, slowed it down a touch, but made the riffing a little more epic you'd have yourself a pretty close match (not to say these riffs aren't distinct).

Clean vocals...Why is every band throwing unnecessary clean vocals into their music these days? I mean, occasionally they do fit into this bands music, and on even less occasions, they really improve it (the title track being one of the lone exceptions). Chained And Desperate were doing fine just rocking the harsh vocals, they had everything going for them - the riffs were simultaneously menacing and catchy, the vocals were aggressive...the whole thing just gelled perfectly, then they had to throw in some horribly stuffy sounding singing. Oh well, the attempt at variation is always appreciated, but in this case, it was completely unneeded.

Melodic black metal; it's a love or hate thing, people. Worth checking out for those who enjoy it.