Chaplain - Utopia

Coventry metallers Chaplain released A Disgusting View of Humanity two years ago, but couldn't have been more unlucky with the timing, unleashing it in March 2020 as the world closed its doors for what felt like could be forever at the time. As the world's opened up again, they've re-established themselves on the death metal and extreme metal live circuit, and if you've caught them in a sweaty, beer-stained live room lately, you might recognise this new one.

Chaplain are a death metal band to my ears, but that's a simple way of looking at it. They fearlessly do their own thing, with influences from doom and bouncy groove metal. Their focus is more on simple, catchy and powerful bangers than the pursuit of mind-blowing technicality or playing the fastest. It's refreshing, really, who knew extreme could be fun as well?

Utopia crawls in with a slinky riff before a rolling snare, earth-moving scream and a bass drop introduces a verse full of swagger and attitude. The double-bass kick patterns are really tasteful and the vocals hold their weight in front of the sludgy guitar work. The bass tone also sounds particularly killer, as shown off just before the second verse kicks in. With great production and a particularly huge drum sound that really does the song justice, Chaplain really do sound 'big' on this new single.

The chorus has a blackened quality to it in some ways, which I didn't necessarily expect from Chaplain. But it proves that they're happy to keep it unique while keeping it heavy. Later into the song, Chaplain delve into an interlude, where the buildup and vocal approach have shades of Slipknot at their most demented. It also allows Andrew to show off more of his vocal range, but the songwriting prevents it from sounding forced. All these other influences are pulled off effectively and you could never accuse Chaplain of being one-dimensional.

It all seems to be over way too quickly, in any case, and I look forward to the next one!

A promising effort, and a step up from the last EP.

8/10

MN

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