Album Review: The Chariot - Long Live

Following their debut and the subsequent release of two successful albums, The Chariot’s fourth offering is another consistently relentless record: the energy they capture here is phenomenal. Whist many of their peers trend to offsetting their aggression with sweetly sung choruses, The Chariot stand firm and pure as a metalcore band throughout the record, giving fans of the genre something to get truly excited about; ‘Long Live’ sounds like a metal band on top of their game.

Opener ‘Evan Perks’ bottles The Chariot’s aggressive emotion perfectly, as Josh Scogin screams “Disappointed? I know you are” repeatedly over what sounds like complete chaos. The band then launch into one of the highpoints of ‘Long Live’: ‘The Audience's lo-fi vocals, changing

However, it’s their experimentation with tremolo effects and brass instrumentation which helps set The Chariot even further apart (and in many cases, ahead) of the pack. Perhaps the most surprising musical interjection is found in the song ‘Calvin Makenzie’, which unexpectedly delves into unchartered metal territory as it flicks between the brutality of the song and the vinyl-scratch quality of an old ditty. It’s certainly unexpected and could not be a more obvious contrast to the pace of the song. Despite the impact, it feels too out of place and comes at such an odd timing that it doesn’t quite work. It’s a curve-ball to throw at the listener, but rather than adding to an already solid song it does nothing except shock and perplex.

Despite occasionally missing the mark, the overall strength of the record shines through regardless. The first true sing-along moment on ‘Long Live’ comes in the shape of ‘The City’, which builds back from a melodically-void middle-section into a choir of “Oh’s”. It’s this rare use of singing which makes it so effective; it brings out the stadium-filling potential of The Chariot but thankfully restrains it exclusively to the sweaty club circuit. These anthems are only sporadically off-set by more middle-of-the-road metalcore songs like ‘Andy Sundwall’ which can’t quite match the brutal energy contained by the rest of the album.

Whilst ‘Long Live’ benefits from slicker production without losing the raw energy of their previous records, ‘Long Live’ still feels as fresh as their debut. It’s another long shot of adrenaline from Georgia’s finest.

4/5

'Long Live' by The Chariot is released on November 22nd(UK)/23rd(US) on Good Fight Music.

The Chariot on MySpace

Alex Howick