August 19, 2025Interviews, Local Artists, New Album, New Music, News Comments (0)

Chaos Doctrine – ‘The Chaos Chronicles Vol II and III’ Interview

Chaos Doctrine Unleash Their Mammoth Double EP ‘The Chaos Chronicles Vol. II & III’ – We Talk Process, Tributes and Vault Digs

Chaos Doctrine return with ‘The Chaos Chronicles Vol. II & III’, a mammoth, career-spanning double EP that welds remixes, remasters and live captures to newly unearthed demos and three fresh tracks – led by the theatrical, flute-tinged single ‘Trial’ (Hamelin Mix) – all produced in-house at their own Gemini AD Studios; we catch up with the band to explore why they paired reinventions with vault digs, how the SA-bbath tribute and oddball covers fit into their arc, and what this sprawling package says about Chaos Doctrine’s decade of industrialised thrash and experimental noise.

Q: Your new release is titled ‘The Chaos Chronicles Vol. II & III’. Why release two volumes at the same time?

Chaos Doctrine: Firstly, thank you for the opportunity to catch up and for promoting our new product, it is awesome talking to you guys!

Originally, the intention wasn’t a double volume at all. You will recall that The Chaos Chronicles Vol I from 2019 featured only 4 tracks + a cover (Motörhead’s Ace of Spades). So our thinking was to put out just an EP of similar size, featuring all the colabs we have done in the past that haven’t made it to our albums.

But, as we worked on this project over the last few years, the ideas kept growing and growing. And suddenly, there was just way too much stuff for a single release – so a double album it is!

The above being said – what’s cooler than a double album? (laughs)

Q: Vol. II focuses on remixes, collaborations and remasters, while Vol. III digs into demos and new tracks. How did the idea to combine reinventions and archival vault-digs into one release come about?

Chaos Doctrine: This idea evolved too, based on the original Chaos Chronicles. Essentially, the idea started with remixes and colabs – i.e. alternative versions of tracks that made it to our 2nd and 3rd albums (our debut was covered by Volume I).Then we had the ideas of adding old demos… then adding new demos to give our fans a hint of what’s to come on our 2026 release… and then, finally, we had The Rite Verse II locked and loaded, so we thought, why not add it in?

I guess what we are trying to say is – we had an idea, one we put on hold to finish Bellum (our third album). We are glad we did because, over time, the idea evolved and became what is now this expansive double volume.

Q: You’ve reworked fan favourites (like ‘Blood Serpent God’) alongside raw 2014 – 2018 demos. What was your criteria for choosing which older tracks to remaster, remix or finally release as demos? Any sentimental picks?

Chaos Doctrine: Choosing the old demos was easy – we looked at what we had and what they sounded like. if it was salvageable, it made it onto the record (laughs). We wanted to capture some of our oldest tracks though – you mention Blood Serpent God, what makes its demo special is it is literally the very first one ever recorded!

Choosing remixes is a bit harder; you need a creative spark. When we did the 4,000 years of lies remix of ‘FTG’ on The Chaos Chronicles Vol I, we really enjoyed that. Blood Serpent God lent itself to something similar, so the Xibalba Mix was born. With Heretic, we thought, it is so ugly and fast, what if we slow it down a bit and give it a completely different flair – and the Amenhotep IV mix was born. So, it really does depend on the right thought at the right moment.

Finally, colabs start in a similar way. An idea sparks. Wouldn’t it be cool if Father Grigori was in Russian? Wouldn’t a female voice work amazingly on Martyr? What if The Rite had a raspy bluesy female vocal, and a real potent harmonica? Then we find the right artist and we run with it!

What is great about The Chaos Chronicles is that it gives us a completely different way of expressing creativity as Chaos Doctrine. We have always been all about pushing our own boundaries artistically, and this is a very different yet satisfyingly intense way of doing that!

Q: Alec wears a lot of hats on this project(producer/mixer/mastering) – how does having a band member run production shape the sound and the creative decisions for a career-spanning collection like this?

Chaos Doctrine: Alec is truly a great production leader. Firstly, he has the amazing ability to stay objective and true to the song – although he is the guitarist, he is concerned with the overall output, not just his tone (laughs). Secondly, while he drives, the whole band inputs on the final technical output. We have always been a very tight and cohesive unit, from writing to performing, and with production it is no different. Even if there is just one dissident voice, we wouldn’t continue with an idea – everyone must be on board. We have also all been in bands for literally decades, so we enjoy driving our own creative direction, again, as a unit, to make sure that it always “sounds like us”!

Q: ‘Trial’ (Hamelin Mix) brings Buchanan Marais’s flute and layered vocals into the band’s brutal landscape. Walk us through the moment you decided flute and pan-flute belonged in a Chaos Doctrine track – was it planned or an experimental leap?

Chaos Doctrine: As we alluded to earlier, we are always looking for new and creative ways to expand our sound and push the boundaries of what we and our fans associate with Chaos Doctrine. That is important because it means when you hear or see something, you start thinking, “hmmm, what if we did something similar?”. This is very important to us; while we prize our unique sound, we are also painfully aware of the ever-present risk of things starting to sound all the same!

Given that this is our mindset, the math behind meeting Buchanan and finding out he is a flutist (among many other instruments) is not difficult to understand! Choosing Trial as the track to infuse his influence into was pretty easy too – we were in the throes of finishing Bellum together and this track’s atmospheric elements was an easy match to make.

We should also mention that his vocals bring an amazing new feel to the song, he is a one-man choir that adds much depth and layering. Luckily our vocalist isn’t previous about sharing the mic! (laughs). You can also catch Buchanan on the SA-bbath Doctrine Chapter III.

Q: The EPK calls the ‘Hamelin Mix’ “Dante-esque” and “ritualistic.” What atmosphere or story were you trying to conjure with that reinterpretation, and how do you think it reframes the original Bellum version for listeners?

Chaos Doctrine: Trial is fundamentally about someone who takes the dark journey to utter madness. The original version leans heavily into our industrial sound, so it conveys a rage amidst this darkness. The Hamelin Remix, in turn, strips out a whole lot of that and replaces it with the eerie and haunting melodies that only a flute can conjure, leaning deeper into fear than anger. Perhaps the Hamelin Mix is further down the road to madness than its predecessor!

Q: Vol. II includes ‘The SA-bbath Doctrine Chapter III: SA Tribute Mix’ – a South African tribute to Black Sabbath. How did Ozzy and Sabbath influence Chaos Doctrine, and how did you approach this tribute authentically?

Chaos Doctrine: I don’t think we have enough time to tell you how much Sabbath and Ozzy inspired us as individual musicians and as a band. All of us started as teens jamming Sabbath riffs, so it was a great honour and pleasure for us to deliver this mammoth effort.

There is a bit of back story – which sounds like many other Chaos Doctrine stories. The idea of a Sabbath cover came up years ago, and it quickly morphed into a Sabbath Medley. Because how do you choose just one? Even the medley was extremely hard to put together – we had to leave out loads of tracks we would have loved to include.

With the medley design in place, we couldn’t decide whether we wanted to go old school – or give it the full Chaos Doctrine industrial treatment. So we did both – enter Chapters I and II, which were released April 2024. While working on those, we thought, what if we get some of our friends to sing on this? And, like we spoke about earlier, we made it happen. In the end, we are really proud that we got the chance to do something of this scale, a first in South Africa.

Q: You cover very different songs – Depeche Mode’s ‘Enjoy the Silence’ and Midnight Oil’s ‘Beds Are Burning’ – What draws you to those tracks, and how do you translate their melodies/lyrics into your industrial-thrash vocabulary?

Chaos Doctrine: Both these covers were originally recorded early 2021, amidst the pandemic. At the time, we had just finished “And in the Beginning…. They Lied” (our second album). We felt like doing something completely different. Alec said – why don’t we do a Depeche Mode cover? It went quickly because we were hungry to experiment – for example, it’s our first recording ever with ‘clean vocals’, so definitely special in itself.

When that was finished, we wanted more! Midnight Oil was a really controversial band in South Africa in the 80s, and felt like an obvious choice. Because it was done so close to Enjoy the Silence, you will hear a load of similar elements.

We had done a load of covers before, but those were all metal songs. So these were really something else. We wanted to bring homage by having enough of the original to make it really noticeable, but also put the Chaos Doctrine stamp on it. We only hope we did these great songs justice!

Q: From a sonic standpoint, what did you learn about your own identity as a band by revisiting raw demos like ‘My Demise’ (2014) and ‘The Genocide Number’ (2014) and placing them next to new 2024 demos and studio tracks?

Chaos Doctrine: When approaching the old tracks artistically, it was been great to see the evolution of our song writing, the maturity of our production, and the rapid expansion of our creative boundaries and our sound. Many of our old tracks were very much “industrial thrash metal”, but over time we have infused a whole lot more influences. Obviously the drawback is it is much harder to explain what we do now (laughs).

Q: ‘The Rite’ (Verse II) is listed as a sludge-industrial hybrid -is it a thematic sequel to an earlier Rite? How do narrative threads and motifs (lyrical or musical) run through the Chronicles?

Chaos Doctrine: Verse II is indeed a sequel to the original, which featured on “And in the Beginning…. They Lied”. To put it really briefly, the original was born out of a joke that we should write a sludgy song to see if we can do it, and what it would sound like. Verse II was born when our vocalist bought a new guitar and came up with a new riff (laughs).

Verse II gave us yet another opportunity to play with creativity in a different way. When you listen to the two songs back-to-back, you will notice we reused a lot of the sonic elements and lyrics from the original to carry the theme forward. This was more difficult than it sounds – you want to create familiarity, but you don’t want to violate originality. You also want to balance that with enough new elements for it to stand alone as a solid track. Verse II features many Chaos Doctrine firsts, including a B3 organ that we have never explored before. Alec also brought his A-Game and brought guitar solos that you have never heard on Chaos Doctrine tracks before.

Q: The release spans guest artists Ryno Theron, Laura Cayzer, Demether Grail, Buchanan Marais and others. How did you pick collaborators for the remixes and remasters, and were there any surprising synergies that emerged in the studio?


Chaos Doctrine: We touched on this a bit earlier! It all starts with an idea, sometimes serendipitously, sometimes by design. We think a song would sound great if it features something – and then we look for the musician who can deliver that!


The coolest story is how we got to work with Demether. In short, we had the idea of getting a Russian vocalist for Father Grigori, for obvious reasons. France the Planet introduced us to Anna Hel, but she said we need someone who understands the mythology surrounding Rasputin, and that a male voice is needed because the lyrics are in first person! So she introduced us to Demether, who did an absolutely amazing job, rewriting all our lyrics and delivering a sterling performance (Anna went on to do Blood Serpent God with us on our second album, which was also amazing!).


Laura was chosen for Martyr because her voice is exactly what we needed – she is a fantastic and extremely versatile singer. She is also all over The SA-bbath Doctrine Chapter III. We asked Ryno to do the solo on the Blood Serpent God Xibalba Mix because we wanted a great shredder – and he delivered! Bronwyn Bing features on The Rite (Devil Divas and Harps Remix) because of her distinct vocals – it gives the track a super strange feel, hearing the creepy lyrics delivered by a female voice. Craig MacKinnon, who plays harmonica on this same track, was a referral by Buchanan. We would love to work with Craig again, his work is that of the blues masters. As you can imagine though, the opportunity to include harmonica in our style of music isn’t every day!


Q: Two live tracks from June 2024 are on Vol. II. How do you choose which live moments to immortalize, and what do those performances capture that studio versions don’t?


Chaos Doctrine: Quite a bit of thought went into choosing which live tracks we wanted to include. We chose ‘Lifting the Veil’ and ‘One of my Bad Days’ because they are still quite fresh in the memory of our fans, having been released as singles from Bellum. Secondly, we didn’t want to feature live versions of tracks already appearing on the Volume. Finally, we think these are banger tracks and they will live on in our live set for some time to come!


These live tracks definitely do capture something special – the raw energy that comes with delivering extreme metal to an audience. In the studio, you can hide behind overdubs and edits. When you are live, it is just us, a metronome, and a job to do!


Jason Eedes (Drums), Alec Surridge (Guitar), Phil Carstens (Bass & Backing Vocals) & Daniel Burger ‘Dr D’ (Vocals) – Photo By Jaco Vermaak

Q: The band describes itself as a “comprehensive sensory experience” and a brand – how does the visual art (Phil Carstens’s cover art, stage visuals, packaging) tie into the music’s themes across these Chronicles?


Chaos Doctrine: Every one of our songs tells a story. All those stories together become themes. These have, over the years, evolved into a comprehensive narrative. We use visuals – images, colours, shades – to help us convey this overall narrative.


When you look at the individual cover art and image art together, you can start seeing the bigger Chaos Doctrine picture. Since the inception of the band, we have been deliberate in our choice of colours and imagery to reflect both what we are about, and what our music sounds like!


Q: Remastering old demos to sit beside fresh tracks is tricky. Describe the technical and emotional challenges of restoring rough archival material while keeping its raw authenticity intact.


Chaos Doctrine: This is a great insight. We set off with the deliberate plan to let the demos still sound like demos – otherwise you can just go listen to the track on the original album. What’s great about putting the old and new together is you can catch a glimpse of both how we have changed, and how we have stayed the same.


It was definitely a nostalgic journey for us, going back years and years. Even though we still play some of these tracks live every so often, it is very different when you sit down as a listener!


Q: The EPK emphasises industrialised thrash and death metal blending with experimental textures. Has your approach to songwriting changed over the last decade, and do the Chronicles reveal a deliberate stylistic evolution or an organic accumulation of influences?


Chaos Doctrine: Our song writing has always been a combination of deliberate design and organic development – sometimes a bit of both. So, our overall approach hasn’t changed: HOW we create stays the same. For example, sometimes one of us (usually Alec) would come up with a riff, which would become a song through a bit of jamming and a bit of engineering. ‘Hidden Hand’ is a great example of that – Alec came up with the riff during a practise session, we wrote the song together in the studio, and then started layering the various aspects in and playing with the elements until the song made sense to us (what we can “the Chaos Doctrine treatment”). Other times, we may say we want to write something specific, and then deliberately engineer it to be that. ‘Bayonet’ is a great example of that – I wanted a thrashy song that is very fast and very short, and Alec made it happen.


That which continues to evolve is the WHAT – i.e. what type of song do we want here, what elements do we want to include, what is the message we want to convey, etc. All of that is then shoved into the Chaos Doctrine machine and iterated until ready!


Q: You’re releasing independently (Gemini AD Studios). What advantages and constraints have independence given you for a project of this scale (20 tracks, physical bonus mixes, multiple remixes)? Any lessons for other heavy bands trying to self-release ambitious packages?


Chaos Doctrine: Working independently gives you the time to really do what you want to do. Having our own studio is a blessing here, because, like you said, we can iterate as many times as we want to. For example, the mixing and mastering of our first album and The Chaos Chronicles Vol I were done externally, subjecting us to the decision of “is this good enough or do we want to spend more money?. In turn, all our releases since were done by ourselves, meaning we could mix and remix until we were happy. If we had to pay for that in studio fees, it would have been a very different story.


We are of course also very lucky to have Alec in the band, and he understands the science and art of production, and constantly works to get better at these technical aspects. Engineering our sound brings quite a challenge, because of the multiple layers and the sonic challenges that presents.


The primary constraint of working independently is obviously that you are independent! You don’t have support from any ‘body’ that can help you promote. Luckily we have guys like yourselves that step up for us there, and we are really grateful for that!


In terms of lessons, the good news is these days you can make an album in your bedroom with very little investment. The bad news is, you need to know how to do that if you want it to sound good! Know what you want to achieve, know what you want to sound like. Keep reading, keep watching tutorials, compare your output to others, and to the pros, and keep wanting to get better. If you have the funds, invest it in good equipment and good software!


Q: The Chronicle contains many alternate mixes (Amenhotep IV Remix, Xibalba Mix, Devil Divas & Harps Mix, etc.). Do you view remixes as reinterpretations of your intent or as entirely new collaborations that stand alone? Which remix surprised you most?


Chaos Doctrine: Our remixes really range from “slight tweaks and additions” (e.g. Martyr’s remix adds the female vocal from Laura Cayzer, Trial’s remix takes out some elements and ads Buchanan’s work), where the song structure stays in tact, to complete overhauls, like Heretic and Blood Serpent God. With the latter two, the guitars, bass and vocals remain in tact, but not in the same structure, and they are augmented with a whole load of electronic elements. These were really inspired by the guys we grew up with – Ministry and Rob Zombie as examples – who would do overhauls of their own tracks.


For us, these are experiments, or like mentioned earlier, a different way of being creative and getting a fresh output. They definitely can stand alone, but the overall theme of the song always remains as originally intended. And, its more fun to spin both together and spot the differences!


The one that surprised us the most must be Heretic’s Amenhotep IV Remix. Go listen to the original on Bellum, then this one. You wont need an explanation beyond that! The surprise is how, despite its extreme overhaul, it still is so heavy, and it still is so Chaos Doctrine!


Q: Looking back to 2011 and forward from 2025, what’s the one creative risk you’re proud you took as Chaos Doctrine, and one risk you still want to take?


Chaos Doctrine: The biggest risk overall would probably have to be continuing a fundamentally old school form of metal (thrash/death), and then infusing industrial into that, in a world where popular metal (you know, the stuff the kids listen to nowadays! laughs) is now something very different. For us though, the rule is, we only play it if we like it. And that rule will always be there.


More specifically, one would have to look at songs like The Rite and Martyr, which deviate quite notably from the rest of our back catalogue. Or look at our ‘out of place covers’ – Depeche Mode, Midnight Oil, and Pink Floyd.


The risk is of course straying so far from your sound that your fans ask what the hell you are doing. But, time and time again, we manage to take something very different and still ‘Chaos Doctrine stamp’ it so hard that it is clearly us – just us doing something different.


Creative risks we still want to take: there are many things we still want to explore – some of which we are doing already for our 2026 release, and our 2027 release. But, most of these risks we haven’t even thought of yet. So stay tuned! See what comes next!


Q: For longtime fans who’ve followed you since the demos, and new listeners who’ll hear the Chronicles first: what should each group expect to feel or discover when they hit play on Vol. II & III?


Chaos Doctrine: Our longtime fans will not be surprised at all with what they find on this double volume – they know we like to do things differently, and they have heard many of these tracks already. We hope they like the ones that they haven’t heard, reminisce with us when they hear those old demos, and look forward to hearing our new material when they hear the new demos!


For people who have never heard Chaos Doctrine – expect to get a dose of everything! When our second and third albums were released, we said that it doesn’t matter what kind of metal you are into, you will find something on there you like. With these 20 tracks + 3 covers, this holds even more true. Give it a shot – whatever you are looking for, you will find it on there!


That wraps our interview – huge thanks to Chaos Doctrine for taking us through ‘The Chaos Chronicles Vol. II & III’ – we appreciate the candour and the craft, and we can’t wait for fans old and new to hear the full scope of this double EP, so go stream, buy the physical edition if you can, and let the music speak for itself.


Chaos Doctrine: thank you for really insightful questions, and for your ongoing support!

• Stream ‘The Chaos Chronicles Vol. II and III’ – https://hypeddit.com/chaoschronicles

• Watch ‘Trial (Hamelin Remix)’ featuring Buchanan Marais – https://youtu.be/aGqBSfpps-4

• All Links – https://linktr.ee/chaosdoctrine

• Website – https://www.devographic.com/chaos-doctrine


Track Listing

1) Blood Serpent God (Xibalba Mix)

2) Trial (Hamelin Mix) feat Buchanan Marais

3) Отец Григорий (Father Grigori) feat Demeter Grail

4) Cult (MMXXI Mix)

5) Black Friday Bedlam (Inga Svenska Gudar Mix)

6) Martyr (Jeanne D’arc Mix) feat Laura Cayzer

7) Heretic (Amenhotep IV Mix)

8) The Rite (Devil Divas and Harps Mix)

9) One of My Bad Days (Live June 2024)

10) Lifting the Veil (Live June 2024)

11) Christ Church Horizon (Ecclesia Non Grata Mix)

12) The Rite (Verse II)

13) Bayonet (2024 Demo)

14) Hidden Hand (2024 Demo)

15) Black Friday Bedlam (2015 Demo)

16) Blood Serpent God (2018 Demo)

17) Ftg (2015 Demo)

18) Harlot (2016 Demo)

19) My Demise (2014 Demo)

20) The Genocide Number (2014 Demo)


Chaos Doctrine Bio


Chaos Doctrine brings a unique and modern metal assault by blending old school thrash and death with aggressive industrial metal. Originally formed in 2011 in Johannesburg, South Africa by vocalist Dr D (Bedlam, Malachi, DedX), the band line up is completed by veteran guitarist and band producer Alec Surridge (Sacraphyx, The Warinsane), bass guitarist, backing vocalist and band visual artist Phil Carstens (DedX), and explosive drummer Jason Eedes (Jasper Dan, Azraella’s Sorrow, Beyond the Pale & The Sinners).


For its members, Chaos Doctrine is more than a band: it is a comprehensive sensory experience and a brand. Everything the band produces conveys this – the band name itself, their aggressive sonic releases, explosive live shows, dystopic visual products, and stabbing lyrical content. Chaos Doctrine explores the shadow of the human condition, hatred, brutality, decay. Their approach is unrelenting, fueled by rage and void of apology. This is aggression, this is Chaos Doctrine!


Follow Chaos Doctrine


Listen & Watch Chaos Doctrine

Leave a Reply