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CHARIOTS OVERDRIVE “The End of Antiquity”
CHARIOTS OVERDRIVE “The End of Antiquity”
By Colonel Angus
Somebody needs to tell Gene Simmons that rock is not dead. There is so much hard rock/heavy metal coming out that it is hard to keep up with all the new releases. Hailing from Atlanta by way of China, neither traditionally regarded as a hotbed for metal, CHARIOTS OVERDRIVE nonetheless emerges from this unlikely geographic intersection with a sound that screams NWOBHM. “The End of Antiquity” is their debut album and it is quite the statement.
Like many disks nowadays, the record starts off with a short intro piece and this one is at least some acoustic guitar in almost a RUSH vein. But the real meat and potatoes starts on track two with “Parasite” kicking in with some great chugging riffing that right away gives off that NWOBHM vibe. The track carries a raw, unpolished energy which is something typically captured only by young bands but on the flip side, there is a confidence in the performance that you would typically get from a seasoned group. Things are definitely starting off promising and I can happily report that the album continues with another great track. “Marching Maniacs” contains a little less of that chugging riffs that appeared in the previous track but they have replaced them with some of the catchiest guitar work on the whole release.
There is definitely an IRON MAIDEN influence throughout the disk but none more than on “A Taikonautic Alchemist”. That’s not to say that they are a copy because I hear other American heavy metal influences like MANILLA ROAD. That track was their first single they released a couple of years ago and is a good indication of what the rest of the album is like. Following that is a bass-forward instrumental “Sunken Throb” that is not unlike the record’s first song. I like that the band has decided to break up the album a bit to give the listener a chance to regroup after a few tracks of metal riffage.
The tribal drumming ushers in the track named after the band that has a distinct JUDAS PRIEST vibe about it. There is some of that NWOBHM galloping thrown in there for good measure to make for a cool unique tune. As we work our way towards the end of the record, we get another stomper named “Nomadic Warfare”. While it bears similarities to other tracks on the record, the quality remains high enough that its familiarity feels more cohesive than repetitive. The title track follows suit with another metal workout that holds all the charm of early NWOBHM, back when metal was new and exciting. The record ends on the epic “A Bizarre Pilgrimage to the Cubik Mansion” which comes in at just over twelve minutes. There are a number of twists and turns that almost veer this tune into prog metal territory. At no point does this track feel overblown or long just for the sake of it. The band stretches their sound into an expansive opus that is both ambitious and finely executed giving us metalheads a taste of what these guys are capable of.
Rock/Metal (or whatever you want to call it) is not dead. CHARIOTS OVERDRIVE are proving that it is alive and well with this album. Sure, it may have elements of things that came before but ultimately, they’re carving their own path with “The End of Antiquity”. Extra points are given for the production of the record. It has a nice warm sound while still capturing the early NWOBHM vibe. This is one of the strongest debut releases I have heard in a while which gives me high hopes for their next release but until then, I will be spinning “The End of Antiquity” for a long while.
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