Hordes Arising

Though Chaoshorde's EP hearkens back to the 1980s in many ways, due to my own personal experience and bias, it makes me think most of the late 1990s. I had just been interested in metal for a few years at that point, and there was a trend of sorts that had just begun developing, led perhaps by certain key record labels (I'm thinking mostly of Osmose and Necropolis). This trend was cynically dubbed "retro-trash" by some folks, even when much of it had a helping of "first-wave" black metal influence, and many of the participants were in fact mainlining in black metal bands. These projects were by and large guys having fun and letting off steam away from their principal projects, playing a style of metal that wasn't exactly making a lot of people sit up and pay attention at the time. The Swedish band Bewitched was pretty much the perfect example of this style: a bunch of guys who "knew better" playing very no-frills satanic music with speed/heavy metal riffs and very basic drums to the accompaniment of raucous blackish snarls. It was, indeed, not hard to be cynical about this music and the intentions of the people behind it, especially when the projects seemed to multiply like rabbits in Australia, but I feel like many of the groups had their hearts in the right place, and the years 1996 to 1999 in particular were a time when people like me needed to be reminded of where this evil metal thing really came from.

All this preamble to talk about such a short release from a Greek band in 2017? Why not? It's twenty years on, and 80s-inflected "blackened speed", "blackened thrash", or whatever the hell you want to call it, is quite accepted nowadays. The bands even play guitar solos! I remember commenting in 2000 or thereabouts that I couldn't understand why so many of these "retro bands" were averse to lead guitar flourishes. Chaoshorde may not be bursting with creativity in this particular department, but they sure aren't afraid to include them, and even pull off the lead breaks in the cover of "Agents of Steel" with aplomb. Most importantly, though, they deliver the riffs during these four songs with both precision and enthusiasm.

"The Hordes are Rising" is a terrific opener, beginning with a vaguely Metallica-ish pounding before accelerating into a frenzy of thrash drums and limber strumming. So, the first song's fast, and the second one's even faster, this one having a very slight late90s melodic death reminiscence -- the band might not like me saying that, but I think it's there, and doesn't actually do the band any harm at all. The drums are really pushy and up-front, and much more active than I'd have expected from most of those 90s "retro" bands I mentioned earlier. The band's third and final original composition here is just slightly more "epic" in character, with a nicely executed clean guitar overture that quickly gives way to even more neck-snapping frenzy. Not much cause to slow down in any of these songs except for a short breakdown riff or two.

I already brought up the Agent Steel cover, and it's executed flawlessly and with great faithfulness to the 1985 classic. The dry, rasping vocals do not do it any favours: this is not much better than hearing iron maiden covered by a band with a singer who refuses to sing, and thus it's a curiosity and nothing more for the listener, but probably a lot of fun to rehearse and record, and ultimately, I can see how that matters more than anything else to the band, and I can still approve. This is a really short release, and I hope Chaoshorde will give us something more substantial in the near future. Their skills are obviously of a good standard to deliver this kind of music; more variation in tempi and a slightly less by-the-numbers approach would almost be a given to expect from these guys.