Chapter X

After Tad Morose initially came back after a decade of silence with Revenant a few years back, I was pretty worried that one of my favorite bands had really lost the plot. But then I liked their last one St. Demonious and now this new one, Chapter X, is actually really cool.

This is just a mega-heavy, chugging, groovy workout of epic power metal like they were known for back in the early aughts with urban breed at the helm. Right from the cool cover art, it already feels like they wrote this album with a similar mindset to the old ones, and the writing and playing follows suit – I've been playing this alongside Modus Vivendi and Matters of the Dark and I barely notice a difference in the style or sound. If you liked the classic-style pounding power/thrash riffs, monster grooves and mysterious, arcane atmospheres, it's all here and done well over a massive 14-song run, alternating between fast bellowers and slower, mid-tempo grooves all throughout.

If you want to talk quality, well, there are no songs here as good as “Anubis” or “Servant of the Bones” or anything, but they're all pretty fucking solid workouts of garroting riffs and ominous chorus-work. Singer Ronny Hemlin will never be a favorite of mine, as he's less versatile than breed and a lot of his lines tend to sound the same, but I gotta give him credit for really stretching himself here. This is definitely the best I've heard him. The writing is more solid than on their previous two albums and every song is distinct.

Opener “Apocalypse” is probably the most atypical Tad Morose song here, featuring more modern riffs and harsher vocals in the chorus. I like it, though, especially the weird slow dirge break in the middle – it's different and fresh. The rest is all classic Tad Morose, from the groovy “Come Morpheus,” the savage ripping speed of “Deprived of Light” and the riff-rocking “I Am Night,” the most classic song here. It's a long album and maybe doesn't need to be 14 tracks, but I'm never bored and new songs have stuck out to me every time. Later tracks like “Nemesis” and the mystic, erudite “Vaunt the Cynical” keep the quality up. And closer “Yet Still You Preach” is a killer pounding epic with the best Hemlin performance I've heard.

People who never liked this band won't be won over by Chapter X, but Tad Morose has been a mainstay for me since I was a kid, and they're one of those bands who I just love the general style and sound of. To hear them finally getting back to what they're really good at is heartening to me. Chapter X is a cool fucking album and it will likely be an underrated entry this year. But it doesn't have to be. You should go get it now.