With their third demo release, this Oulu-based band cast off their biggest Gothenburg metal influences. What kind of material Chromatic Dark have releasd, then?

The opener is a synth-made piece, which could be from a console game. It has no relevance, but with cover art, which reminds me of 'Fallout' games. The intro's soundscape is clean compared to the metal songs. 'Dark Wave' presents some feeble math metal stuff before the song enters to more thrashing gear with some Gothenburg metal bits. It's closer to Arise than Dark Tranquillity this time around. The thrashy bits roll on well, but the math stuff does not. It just does not sound very tight. The vocals are dry croaking, that goes from growl to higher pitches.

'For the Pain' is a tad more melodic song. I think it's safest to call it dark heavy metal with more extreme parts. It brings my mind those bands on Century Meda Records in the mid 1990's, when many (e.g. Sentenced, Rotting Christ) started to add more melodiousness to their music. 'World Chaos' is sort of death/thrash song, which has some cool riffs and leads going on. 'Darkening' is softer and slower song, which is simply way to long, because there's not so much variety in it. All these songs too include some "weirder" rhythms, but it doesn't go as mathy as the 'Dark Wave's opening, thankfully.

The sound is a bit flat, but also live. There's no enough depth in it, nor power. But on the other hand, every instrument is well heard this way. The synth appears only on the last song and the intro, so it feels suitably raw.

'Fractures' isn't very catchy and is quite a brave step for the band. This requires pretty much different mood from a listener than the previous efforts. At first it felt like there wasn't many a positive thing to say about this, but when the songs get more familiar, they really prove to be much, much better. 'Fractures' is nicely 1990's, but still feels kind of fresh, at least I cannot name any bands which sound the same. And that's how I like it.

Reviewed by Lane
02/21/2010 20:30