MOLTEN CHAINS
MOLTEN CHAINS “Orisons of Vengeance”
By Dr. Abner Mality
Here’s a strange one that I’m kind of split on. A trio hailing from Austria, MOLTEN CHAINS are actually pretty darn good when it comes to their musical chops. They play an ornate form of thrash/speed metal with cool technical riffs and a lot of energy. That part of their game has no holes.
Where they badly stumble is in terms of the vocals. This is immediately apparent within the first few seconds of “Hand of God”. The vocal lines in the opening part of this song are grossly out of whack and almost seem to belong to a completely different tune. Ugh! The vocalist “Deathromancer” is not awful in terms of tone, but his voice seems rather plain and flat. The weird, off-kilter vocals raise their head in later tunes like “Communion” and “Martyrdom” and actively seem to be working against the music. Perhaps this is part of MOLTEN CHAINS approach to doing things in an original manner, but it really hurts the music.
As for the non-vocal part of the album, it’s fast, well-produced and features great technical riffing that is almost in the zone of avant-garde thrashers like REALM and MEKONG DELTA. At certain points, they catch a great groove that makes you bang your head pretty hard. Solos are also well done. There are odd quirks like the strange ending to “Communion” or long, exploratory tracks like “Bedeviled By Sorrow” and “Martyrdom”. It’s a concept album about some kind of Gothic Shakespearean tragedy so MOLTEN CHAINS are not lacking ambition.
What they are lacking is a vocalist that can compliment their style. Maybe even Deathromancer can straighten himself out and get on track. Until he does and the vocal issues are addressed, MOLTEN CHAINS may not find the success they might deserve.