Demo

Southern Illiniois (and the mid-west in general) is such a dry place for metal with bands that are truly special coming far and few between. One of the truly special bands of the area is Chain Driven. Hailing from McLeansboro, Illinois this band plays a unique brand of southern metal with just a bit of modern influences. The best song on this demo is 'Engine of Destruction', as it is the most straightforward and heaviest with the most brutal vocals and nicely done backing vocals handled by bassist Joe Simpson. And the ending of this song is the best single moment to be found here, as it is a bit fast and thrashy ala Slayer. 'Right On' is particuarly a very short song with an opening riff reminding me of Corrosion of Conformity. This song is the next best song here with ample amounts of southern metal groove, the only problem with it is some of the soloing doesn't fit as good as it should. 'Darkest Town' is a bit of a slower song with a pretty catchy chorus. This is also a good song despite the minor drawback that it is just a bit too long. 'Bludgeon' is perhaps the weakest song here sounding much like 'Right On'. Its written better than Right On but isn't quite as catchy and doesnt have as much groove to it. Still a pretty good song though.
Overall, 3 of these 4 songs are not Chain Driven's best songs, but obviously to me they will continue to improve and continue at becoming more skilled at good songwriting. I say watch out to Earache or Relapse records because at this rate its obvious that we'll know who the next big signing will be a few years down the line ; )