Review: “The Ties That Blind The Flesh And Mind” by Chaos Sequence

A quartet known for their live show having shared stages with everyone from Vexed to InVisions and even The Last Ten Seconds Of Life, Bristol quartet Chaos Sequence have long been touted as a Heavyweight prize fighter waiting in the shadows for the right moment to strike. They first appeared in 2020, releasing six tracks blending elements of Metalcore, Nu-Metal, Drum ‘n Bass and Trap to create a signature sound before 2021 saw full album “Kingdom of Bones” strike like deep impact…

Following the left hand path trodden by Gloom Metal pioneers Loathe, “bloodmoonretrograde” expands on the theories of their earlier offerings with eerie, haunting and sinister at atmospherics building a sense of nauseating tension you can cut with a knife as they reign chunky chugging riffs upon the skull with a dense intensity that is inescapably addictive. Odd time signatures and patterns keep push boundaries and keep you on your toes, the sonic equivalent of watching a classic horror film and not being sure what’s about to happen and yet unable to look away as one by one the bodies hit the floor. “The killing floor” then takes a more direct approach with the classic clunky bass lines of the Nu-Metal era layered up against the violent chug of the guitars and coming off sounding like a Deathcore band playing a KoRn cover with a catchy lyric underneath the weight of the audio destruction. The first of the records guests sees former Betraying The Martyrs and current Ten56 vocalist Aaron Matts join the onslaught with throat shredding rap screams running on unhinged themes in “Fault Index” which sounds as huge as it is hostile with suicidal thoughts cathartically vented against a a backdrop of thunderous percussion and choppy Nu-Deathcore riffs in what is an absolute powerhouse performance. Programming then takes centre stage for “XENO” as it provides the framework upon which the distorted spoken word rap vocal hangs creating something truly gripping before the guitars come down and smash everything and it works incredibly well. Josh and Kane from Tyrants join the party for finale “Arachnid” and the grand finale is a stone cold winner, brutally violent with swathes of bounce riffs to get any pit going while also having an meloncholic darkness with the programming that bleeds out from underneath. The strength of this is undisputed and so don’t be surprised if SharpTone Records come calling because the time and effort gone into creating this absolute monster has paid off handsomely [8/10]

Track Listing

1. Bloodmoonretrograde
2. The killing floor
3. Fault_index (ft. Aaron Matts of Ten56)
4. XENO
5. Arachnid (ft. Josh and Kane of Tyrants)

“The Ties That Blind The Flesh And Mind” by Chaos Sequence is out now