Satanic were formerly known as Satanic Glue Sniffers. Good choice, as glue sniffing will make one a living zombie. Name like Satanic must also create pressure for the band to be really evil and stand out in the mass of metal music.

Thing is, these Canadian death thrashers do not really sound neither evil nor sinister. There are some cool riffs reminding of classic Destruction, Necrodeath and Razor, but then there are many riffs sounding goofy and juvenile. That's not a good start, but the worst thing about this is the drumming, which does drift away from tempos a lot. Many times beats get almost reverse during a song part. It does not hold together. This thing alone makes this album close unlistenable for me.

When the band get into collective beat, it can be energetic and, if not lethal, then at least maiming. It just doesn't happen often enough. Old school speed/thrash metal attitude can be sensed, and it's also genuine, I believe. Some really cool shredding, rusty riffage can be heard at times, plus the guitarist has somewhat unique style. Some melodic leads on few songs kind of brighten up the vibe at times. There are two styles of growling heard: Raspy one heavily reminding of Carcass's Jeff Walker, and then lower stuff. It's okay, but again, nothing lethal.

The band do not meander anywhere. They stick to similar riffing and the drummer does not throw in many different beats (straight rock beat, double kick drum driven beat, thrashy beat, and not much else). These things make the songs one big mass of similar 40 minutes of sloppy metal. This is simply very poor on ideas.

The sound is both demo-level yet working, suitable. The elements can all be heard, and are balanced well enough in the mix. It does boom quite a bit, too. And the brutal, ripping guitar tone is really cool. The production is one of the better traits of the album.

All in all, I find 'Architecture of Chaos' to live up to its name too well: It is badly performed drumming-wise, and all sloppiness make it chaotic. However, song-wise it is very uneventful to be chaotic, and it is too goofy to be evil. Falls flat on its many parts.

Rating: 4- (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
04/07/2018 14:10