Review: “Primacy Arrival” by Axiom Chaos

Separated by a nine hour, 575 mile drive between Ohio and South Carolina are a pair of musicians credited with more projects than there are bullets on a belt belonging to any self respecting Scandinavian corpse paint wearing lover of Black Metal. Together vocalist Justin Vølus (Corpse Arise, Fall of Gnosis, Flesh Configuration) and multi instrumentalist Ben Vanweelden (Ceremonic Buryment, Pillar Amongst Willows, Venomous Echoes) have created new project Axiom Chaos, their promises, prior convictions and artwork from Morket Art (Engulfed, Inverted Ascension) enough to Comatose Music into distributing a first burnt offering in “Primacy Arrival“…

…If you hadn’t already guessed it, Axiom Chaos specialise in chest bursting Death Metal of menacing and sinister atmospheres as the groove laden punishment beating that is opener “The King I Am” provides. For those that haven’t come across his vocals before Vølus throat splittingly harsh uncleans are savage but do allow on this occasion for the lyrics to be determined without lyric sheet translation. If a face melting solo followed by an eerie and hauntingly evil ambient fade out from Vanweelden isn’t enough to capture your imagination then run to the hills while you can still turn back because the onslaught of title track “Primacy Arrival” offers no reprieve. Violently turbulent drumming in the vein of something you might expect from Kevin Talley is nothing short of incredible, the crushing guitars and Slam inspired vocal moments making a nightmarish vision a stark reality. When those ambient moments return, they send a chill down the spine like something you might expect from a psychological horror movie, their grip something that will keep the weak of mind and faint of heart awake in the small hours.

A tornado of rhythmic abuse opens the arteries as “The Gift Of Recognition” springs to life, Vanweelden then expertly slowing the tempo with spine juddering angular riffs. A slightly warped sounding solo is expertly executed to before those bowel clenching swamp monster vocals return but its the mastery of dark atmosphere with a mid cut interlude that will turn your head. Melodic and yet disturbing it makes all the difference before the chaos of the juggernaut returns, providing that unsettling feeling that all is not as it seems. Delving deeper into the science fiction horror realm “Extraterrestrial Necrotic Urge” batters the cranium with its sheer sonic brutality, the pummelling percussion accompanied by the kind of fast and loose riffage that might make you wonder if at least some part of this was recorded live. It has that free flowing quality that you get from that kind of material, despite its obvious use of layering to allow Vanweelden to do all the work.

An early solo in “Antediluvian Origin Unknown” is a thing of beauty wrapped in a tornado of souls, the restless and relentless drumming enough to make any veteran with post traumatic stress syndrome think they’re under attack. A tapped solo over more eerie and ambient sounds perhaps indicates that a move into more Progressive Brutal Death Metal realms might be on the tarot cards at some point in the future however the anvil heavy grand finale is very much a lethal dose of American hatred. The gravitational pull of “Wormhole Pathways Of Conquest” is incredible, the riffage spiralling as Vølus roars like a demon trapped behind Hell’s gate. A man on a mission with a plethora of dark and dangerous riffs in his armoury, Vanweelden shines here, every single one of his sonically abrasive ideas hitting like a sledgehammer to the skull. The final vicious little ditty in this half an hour of power “Exodus Into Oblivion” is arguably the crowning glory of “Primacy Arrival“, a track that shines in the pale light of a blood moon. Quirky, eccentric and eclectic in an Imperial Triumphant way, it’s black beating heart maybe enough to make you call the paramedics to take you to an asylum where straight jackets are compulsory. Either side of that moment of pure unadulterated evil, the brutality is unrelentingly good with the cryptic writing of Strangle Wire coming to mind. A savage beating that you’ll love every second of, with this its just a question of how much you can endure… [7.5/10]

Track Listing

1. The King I Am
2. Primacy Arrival
3. The Gift Of Recognition
4. Extraterrestrial Necrotic Urge
5. Antediluvian Origin Unknown
6. Wormhole Pathways Of Conquest
7. Exodus Into Oblivion

“Primacy Arrival” by Axiom Chaos is out 9th May 2025 via Comatose Music