I really enjoy listening to this Brazilian band's debut album from 2009, 'Kvlt ov Dementia'. The sophomore one 'Art of Killing' came four years later, and it was rather unsuspenseful and didn't manage to maim me. The third album 'Seasons of Red' (2015) never reached my ears, but via digital channel...

It is nice to hear, that at least on the fourth album 'Gods of Chaos', the violence factor is higher again; the band live to its name much fittingly. The name of the game is death/thrash metal. It is not a surprise that Sepultura and/or Max Cavalera's riffing style is a big influence here. Yes, even his post-Sepultura ramblings. But fear not, as there are no jump-da-fuk-up elements in CS's music, except for certainly possessessing some groove metal rhythm work.

Other clear influences come from North American death metal bands, such as Morbid Angel and Malevolent Creation, plus European ones like Vader and Hypnos, and perhaps Decapitated for their groovy bits. CS do not go for long with one influence, but they have managed to mix them all nicely, building their own sound. And what is cool about it all, is the variety occuring during these 40 minutes. The bands mentioned on this paragraph are just some kind of thinkable spiritual guides for CS, the truth might be totally different. Anyway, CS possess enough of their own kind of identity, and are easy to be recognised for those who know the band.

Lyrically, the album is based on various deities from around the world. So it is another one with a running basic theme, but not being a story. I will include the origin or religion a song is telling about, and this might give you more preference points, how the music sounds like. The album does not include any Tolkien stuff, as one might think about when seeing the cover art. Looks like Sauron, huh?! Anyway, the painting is rather fine, so what the heck... The lyrics are accompanied by old pictures of them chaos gods. The vocals are powerful enough bellowing, but sadly very unvarying.

'Gods of Chaos' feels the most varied of the band's works, or a least sharing that position with the previous full-length album. At most vicious, it slays; the opener and 'Badlands Terror' (respectively, Satan and North America) are simplistic, almost caveman-ish yet effective death metal pummeling, making one think of Master (no, not Satan, but the band, you know ?!), perhaps. Loads of double kick drumming and sawing guitars. 'Storm of Chaos' reminds of Swedish The Crown, being one of the speediest cuts here. However, the band know how to incorporate melodiousness into the game, without making it all lame. It often happens at the ending parts of a song, though, feeling somewhat disjointed here and there. 'Serpent in Flames' (Judaism) and the title track have some black metal style guitars (also less distorted ones) and vocals, that remind of Behemoth ans such. The thrash metal is most exposed on 'The Beast That Sieges Heaven' (Greece), but even it has some death metal in it. 'Opposer of Gods' (Egypt) is a slower piece, with some Morbid Angel and Nile nuances on it. Lead guitar sections add cool traits into music, sometimes reminding of Alex Skolnick or Kreator, for example. While the album was out in 2017, its spirit comes from the first half of 1990s.

There are three different bonus tracks on different editions. The European one via Defense Records includes Terrordome cover 'Cross over Brazil'. Its title says a lot, as it's a crossover thrash song. Truly different to Chaos Synopsis stuff, as it is much more joyful. Brazilian CD release includes Andralls cover 'Cocaine', which fucking thrashes (while the Terrordome cover ain't bad, but...)! The Mexican edition includes the band's own song 'Serpent of the Nile', taken from the 2016 split EP with Terrordome, 'Intoxicunts'. It is pretty much in vein of this album's songs, with guitars with Egyptian vibe.

Sound-wise the album is not good; this has been the band's stumbling block since the debut. The drums sound very mechanical at times. And the whole sounds hollow in a weird way. It is easy to pick every element from the mix, but generally it is not very powerful. Music-wise, it is generally good, if hardly mind-blowing at any point. There are great bits, but also a few bad ones; some riffs are too typical to shine through. Definitely above average, but not of classic material. And still not on par with the debut...

Rating: 6½ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
09/20/2018 18:49