Godless – States Of Chaos
Release Date: 19th November 2021
Label: Self Released
Bandcamp
Genre: Death Metal, Thrash.
FFO: Malevolent Creation, Vader, Cancer, Cannibal Corpse.
Review By: Rick Farley
Hyderabad, India-based Godless deliver a modern take on Thrash laced Death Metal that would also feel right at home in the 90’s Florida Death metal scene. It’s an homage to possibly one of Metal’s greatest eras. However Godless is no clone band. They’re bringing something unique and fresh to the table for us to devour.
Unrestrained, unapologetic and relentless pace of States Of Chaos brings the listener towards an auditory pummelling. Sharp, fierce, technical guitars that weave between fast tremolo picked Thrash riffs and Old School Death Metal grooves at break-neck speed. The bass is mixed well with a warm bludgeoning clarity that allows the low end to really beat the listener down. Crisp blasting, unique fills and thrashy skank beats are the driving force to the controlled chaos that fuels the whole thing. Just pure unrelenting speed. Guttural vocals in the vein of Corpsegrinder with the occasional delivery style of John Tardy and Svencho. Kaushal LS delivers a vocal performance exactly as it should be, brutal and extreme. His screams and growls have a distinctive personality that creates a visceral landscape amongst the uncompromising music. Individual performances are all top notch and fit nicely with one another to form a cohesive menacing monster of a record. Standout tracks are, Visions, Netherworld, Cormorant and Replicant. Not an ounce of filler here though. From start to finish this album goes fast and brutal, it leans more to the Death Metal side of things but there’s so many chunky thrashy riffs that will make any metalhead happy.
Occasionally States Of Chaos does take a breath, to give us a couple face grimacing grooves to really bang our heads to. There’s enough variety between cleverly placed solos, a dark, haunting intro, double bass patterns, a mid-paced Slayer-esque outro, unique guitar compositions within songs, some gang vocals, thematic lyrical topics and just a small offering of off time guitar parts to keep some variance between songs. In my opinion they could have given us just one mid-paced song towards the end or instrumental that would have further lessened the repetitiveness of these types of albums, but that’s just me being nit-picky. All of this combined however with the sheer viciousness make this a top ten list consideration for 2021.
Lyrically, States Of Chaos explores topics of psychological trepidation, terror and phantasmagorias of dreamscapes. I looked up phantasmagoria, extremely cool theme worth reading about. Bizarre, imagined imagery with fear, anxiety of uncertainty.
With two highly regarded EPs under their belt, a win of India’s Metal Battle Competition which led to a live debut at Wacken Open Air 2018 and now the release of their debut LP album States Of Chaos, Godless are ready to take over the world. This album is fresh and ferocious; while it does harken a beloved time for Death Metal, if Godless has their say, the golden age of Death Metal is now.
(4.5 / 5)
