Chrome Waves - Chrome Waves
This is a band that is composed of members of Nachtmystium, The Atlas Moth, Gates of Slumber and Leviathan. I don’t know if it is a full-time group or not, but given what we have on this record, I hope they continue with it. This EP, clocking in at just under a half-hour, is very cohesive and when you consider that all of the members are also involved in so many other bands at the same time, I was surprised that this didn’t sound sloppy, or worse, like a compilation album. Given the bands involved (particularly Nachtmystium and Leviathan - although I think that Wrest only plays bass live, so I don’t know how much, if any, input/influence he had with the songwriting), I was a bit surprised that Chrome Waves has a Gothic atmosphere mixed in with their Black Metal assault. By “Gothic,” I mean a somber, depressive air, not Cradle of Filth-style music with overblown keyboards and angst-filled lyrics. I guess the best way to describe how it sounds would be to take the atmosphere of The Cure but with Black Metal music. It’s dark, but in a melancholic way, kind of like a faster-paced version of old Katatonia (maybe Dance of December Souls-era or the demo). It kind of has a Doom edge but it stays just over the line of going into true Doom territory. The use of acoustic guitar and also guitar effects does a lot to create the atmosphere. Some of the tracks reminded me of Thergothon (but without the band’s trademark “Swamp Thing” vocals) or the post-Thergothon entity, This Empty Flow, in the way they used their guitars. One thing that I would have liked would have been a heavier guitar tone. With the music being more atmospheric and Doom oriented in places, a heavier guitar sound would have made this darker. Other than that, it’s a very good debut. The songs are solid, and though there is plenty of room for them to grow musically, there really aren’t any obvious flaws in their delivery. I’ll definitely be on the lookout for Chrome Waves in the future.
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