Review: “Lost Connection” EP from Chalice

Two years after full length “Ashes Of Hope” which saw them celebrate 20 years together, Beveren-Leie Belgium natives Chalice have returned with “Lost Connection“. Recorded, mixed and mastered by Tony De Block at Midas Recording Studio in Lokeren with the band delivering a blend of Death Metal and Thrash that focuses on personal struggle and filth of reality as if those 20 years had been spent in the wilderness, cold and alone. 2013’s “There Is Nothing” is essential listening while it’s follow up EP “Closure” is equally as enthralling before 2018’s second full length “Ashes Of Hope” rises above the tide.

Lost Connection” is 10 minutes of seasoned veteran musicians Chris Lagrange (Bass) (ex-Iconoclasm), Niels Verbeke (Drums) (Caducity), Nicolas Bruggeman (Guitars) (Caducity, ex-Death Anos, ex-Eternal Breath), Tim De Smedt (Guitars) (Sonder) and Pieter Dewulf (Vocals) proving that they still have what it takes and haven’t decided that Country Music is the way forward. The ripping “Why” wastes no time in ploughing a furrow through your skull while asking “Why must I suffer these pains?“. Dewulf’s crippling vocals are part Gollum and part pained beast from the depths while the guitar work is as furious as it is haunting. “Dwell” is equally as lyrically introspective, building musically from melodic guitars with a accompanying spoken word for the first 60 seconds before returning to that familiar screech of Dewulf’s nails on a chalkboard savagery as he speaks of anxieties. Musically both tracks are part of the Chalice sound, building on the work of “Ashes Of Hope” while offering something that suggests a new album could be on the horizon. It might be bleak and cold but it gets warm after you’ve been headbanging to these dark tales [8/10]

Track listing

  1. Why
  2. Dwell

Lost Connection” by Chalice is out 18th January and might be available over at bandcamp

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