Reviewed by Veronika van der Walt.
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!
1. The Rite (Devil Divas and Harps Mix)
The track starts slow like the band is doing a sound check, and then you hear a bluesy harmonica (the “harp”) and bluesy singing like someone has died (“before my blood was dry and the paper cold”). The electric guitar comes in and gets heavier (“and I rushed with this lust to kill” – a vampire?). The lyrics “In return for a reasonable wage. Yeah, he said the gods would call me kin” lets me think of someone who’ve made a pack with the Devil but was deceived. Then the Devil Diva (Bronwyn Bing) starts to sings – now this voice wants offerings of heathen sacrifice lol. A man (think Craig MacKinnon) interrupts her for a while (“me and the devil walking side by side”). The Devil Diva takes to the stage again but this time with the fury of a witch like falling “face down into the gates of hell”! It ends with the bluesy harmonica from the beginning – “there is no turning back, what’s done is done”. I would have never thought that blues and metal could blend so nicely. It’s like blues and metal is fighting in a right of passage.
2. The Rite Verse II
“Dr D bought a new guitar and wanted to play it a lot, so he wrote a song”, laughs the band’s General of Heavy Artillery (aka drummer) Jason Eedes. “When he played it to us, it’s grooving style immediately made us think it would easily pick up where ‘The Rite’ left off”. Phil qualifies: “while it makes a great sequel, it is in no way a lazy way of putting out a new song. This track is brand new, containing many elements that we have never explored before, including our first ever introduction of a Hammond B3. It also features previously unexplored guitar work by Alec that is brilliant!”.
It’s a bit more heavy than the music I usually listen to lol. It starts again like the band is doing a sound check and then the metal guitar attacks you like a vampire (“I deceive and I slaughter to appease the rite”). I didn’t expect to hear a harmonica in a heavy metal track lol. And then it’s pure “chaos” lol. The harmonica returns which is interesting. It climaxes with that distinctive metal screaming (“when your pathetic cries feed my burning eyes”). The guitar comes in again with drums. More metal screaming like someone’s throat is being cut lol. It keeps switching between the guitar and the screaming, making you feel like you’re listening to pieces or different worlds (“between the worlds is where I fell”). It ends with the sound of an old big standing clock and I can see the band packing up (“and I know that it will all end in doom”). Definitely not for the faint-hearted lol. The guitar and the screaming are fighting for their right in the track. You can hear the words “trickery and lies” very clearly and I think the “message” of the track is that we’ve been learned a doctrine that’s false and now we’re all going to hell mwahahaha… Nice song for Halloween *winks*.
3. The SA-bbath Doctrine Chapter III SA Tribute Mix
I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Felt like I was at a Black Sabbath concert. They played favourites like “Paranoid” and “Iron Man”. But they still put their own stamp on it. Would like to see them play this live. It would be mind blowing!
This track means so much more to me, and I think many Ozzy Osborne fans, now that he has sadly passed away. May he rest in peace.
Awesome three tracks, you guys! It was a new and refreshing experience for me. Looking forward to seeing you live one day.
Lyrics ‘The Rite Devil Divas and Harps Remix’
Where the highways cross is where I met the man
With the black eyes and forked tongue
Before my blood was dry and the paper cold
I knew my rite had already begun
You see he spoke big words of wealth and fame
In return for a reasonable wage
Yeah, he said the gods would call me kin
That I’d never know the curse of age
In my head was this voice, this piercing hate
Hell bent on breaking my will
In my head was his voice, the deceiver’s call
And I rushed with this lust to kill
When his pipe smoke cleared is when my skin grew cold
For the hooves revealed his deceit
Between the worlds is where I fell
Face down into the gates of hell
There is no turning back, what’s done is done
The rite is where it begins
Me and the devil walking side by side
For death is the wages of sin
Now this voice wants offerings of heathen sacrifice
Twisted tongue spits twisted truths of trickery and lies
Now this voice wants offerings of heathen sacrifice
Cut their throats and with their lives their souls will become mine
Lyrics ‘The Rite Verse II’
This is my deal with the devil
The sacrilegious rite of a blackened soul
I am not what I was
And I perpetuate the darkness that engulfs us all
This is my deal with the devil
I deceive and I slaughter to appease the rite
When your pathetic cries feed my burning eyes
I’ve delivered one more tribute to the lord of lies
In my head is this voice, this piercing hate
Hell bent on breaking my will, pan my will
In my head is his voice, the deceiver’s call
And I rush, with this lust to kill
Now this voice wants offerings of heathen sacrifice
Twisted tongue spits twisted truths of trickery and lies
Now this voice wants offerings of heathen sacrifice
Cut their throats and with their lives their souls will become mine
Between the worlds is where I fell
Face down into the gates of hell
I’m drunkened and I’m frenzied in this nightmare state
And I know that it will all end in doom
ilI’m the true sacrifice
Yielding the power that will all end too soon
The hooves revealed deceit
The hooves that sealed my fate
In my head is this voice, this piercing hate
Hell bent on breaking my will
In my head is his voice, the deceiver’s call
And I rush with this lust to kill
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Bandcamp:
https://chaosdoctrine.bandcamp.com
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