Band:	Kaothic
Album:	Order To Chaos
Style:	Avantgarde metal, Progressive death metal
Release date:	January 10, 2005
A review by:	wrathchild

01. Sphere
02. Hypocritical
03. Strange Confusion
04. Seven Times Seven
05. A Raven In The Dark
06. Veil Of Shame
07. Arrows Of Time

Kaothic being a progressive death metal act, I'm still wondering if the title of their debut album should be interpreted as Order = progressive and Chaos = death, or the opposite. Anyway, this title, as well as the artwork, was the perfect choice to illustrate the music of this new band from Spain.

Alberto Marín (Skunk D.F., and once tour guitarist for Avusled) and Gustavo Romero have teamed with drummer Marcos de la Calle and singer David Curtonates (Terroristars) to perform their compositions, ranging from brutal death metal to some softer forms of metal, with clean vocals here and there, as well as growls and grunts. This is a really extensive trip to the huge world of death metal and a very nice one, trust me.

It all begins with "Sphere" and a very good riff and drum progression leading to some more thrash passages and a powerful mix of clean and growl vocals. Then "Hypocritical" introduces more elements coming from brutal death metal while "Strange Confusion" begins with an acoustic introduction. "Arrows Of Time" has some very low passages, both musically and vocally (Dave Rotten is a guest on that song).

All those songs are well thought out and there is nothing done just to fill a void, not even a weird and ultrafast solo. They play exactly what is needed, never exceeding the limit for no reason and this is what makes this album so good to listen to. Moreover, the production (Bigsimon) is excellent though I just wish I could hear the bass a bit more (but it's quite hard with this kind of metal).

To clear things up, the progressive side in Kaothic's music comes from the way they change riffs and vocals, the progression of those elements throughout the songs and not from an ultra technical side with breaks and solos everywhere. In other words, they took the intelligent side of prog composition and applied it to death metal, which this album still very clearly is.

Despite its short length and a small number of tracks, "Order To Chaos" is a really complete release that can surprise every metalhead. These guys already have the experience and I don't even need to say "we should keep an eye on this band, they're promising" cause they're already at the top!