Imagine Thin Lizzy fronted by a guy who looks like a heftier Frank Zappa but with a voice like Lemmy Kilmister (T.J. Lemieux), and you’ll pretty much have the sound of Deathchant and their second album, Waste.
The seven-track album rips by you faster than a drag strip car, barely coming in over half an hour in length. These guys don’t fool around or waste time. The first track, “Rails,” sounds like the album is about to come off them after the first drum fill by Colin Fahrner. Deathchant’s melodic heavy metal instantly makes you want to customize a Dodge van and hit the road with a foxy lady dressed in bellbottom hip-huggers and an American flag bikini top…while you’re possibly being chased by a wizard. “Black Dirt” has you stomping the gas in that van in order to make it past a haunted mesa before dusk. “Holy Roller” is one of the album’s heaviest cuts. Lemieux and fellow guitarist / vocalist John Belino simply unload twin machine guns on it, and George Camacho‘s bass is like a sledgehammer taking out any survivors.
The whole band’s stunning ability to just jam is apparent on “Gallows.” The title track is over five minutes long, which seems like an epic poem from Deathchant, and it’s suitable for a heroic journey to a dark land to vanquish a monster and return with a mystical orb. The thing starts like squealing race car tires and then bursts from the starting line and never looks back.
“Plague” has neat guitar work balanced well between Lemieux and Belino while Belino sings of bodies lying in the streets. The album ends with “Maker,” a rocking track that features a friendly competition between Camacho and Fahrner – almost like they’re trying to see which of them might stumble first upon the driving rhythm of the track.
Waste is a solid rock record, and Deathchant seem to have had a blast making it – judging by how fun it is to hear.
Keep your mind open.
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[Thanks to Dave at US / THEM Group.]
