To being, I feel like I need to harshly state that I think The Chariot is an excellent band, BUT, seeing them live is an entirely different experience than listening to one of their albums. Some of the things that suck on the album are awesome live, and vice versa. So here beings the first official review for the new website with The Chariots new album Wars and Rumors of Wars.

To start, as I will always do, I will comment on the album art. Album art is important in my opinion (expect an essay on it at some point), and I always look to see what bands are doing. If this was the new album art for Killswitch Engage or anyone else for that matter, It would straight up blow. But for The Chariot it is perfect. “Hey, we’re The Chariot. Here is our album. Fuck you.” I think it fits their style perfectly and really enjoy it.

Alright, this new Chariot album is… well… its a Chariot album. If you don’t know who The Chariot art or what they sound like, here is a little formula to help; Gorillas + Instruments = The Chariot. And that is meant as a good thing. The Chariot is a bunch of dudes trying to create aggressive, no-bullshit noise and they achieve this (almost) perfectly.

Teach really sets off the tone for whats to come on the album. The ominous *Dun Dun Dun Dun* of the guitars is only outdone by “Victory is such a lonely word!”. With this, we get a good taste of what to expect on the album, since they seem to follow pretty strict formula. If you can’t handle this first song, toss this album in the garbage, this is not for you.

Everything is very well produced aside from vocals, which sound like they were recorded on my Logitec mic using Audacity… but that’s part of the sound I guess. This vocals are very aggressive and constant inhaling and exhaling makes me tired just listening. Josh Scogin does well vocally and lyrically and has alot of fun with it. (The “Schluphck” on Evolve…WTF?)

My main complaint with the album is the noise and feedback… Yup… Here me out. The addition of 40+ seconds of random noises at the end of songs really upsets the pace of the album. I’m positive members of The Chariot don’t give two shits about “pace” and if you have any clue about them, you know that noise is what makes The Chariot as awesome as they are. Them live without noise just puts them as another shitty hardcore band. It is what sets them apart. But is 40+seconds necessary on the album? Give me a taste, but don’t drag it out. Drag it out live… hell do two solid minutes of noise live. I’d love that. On the album however, it seems to be a bit more of a burden. Also the song Need needs to go away (see what I did there.) Noise at the end is bad enough, but tossing it in the middle was way worse.

One thing I continue to enjoy from them, is their use of whistles/chanting/clapping/whatever on this album and albums past. Its on odd addition but it gives a fun feel to each song. Also in Daggers I love the “police car” guitars…I don’t know what else to call them.

Again, seeing The Chariot live and listening to one of their albums are two totally different experiences. Things that make them strong live tend to hurt their album performance. Regardless if you like them or not… you need see them live. They are an act within themselves. Not many bands are able to produce the raw, emotive performance they put on. Not everyone will enjoy this band, and even more people will dislike this album, but I feel that it is a good, solid piece of music. Members of The Chariot did not re-invent the wheel or anything with this new album, but they did smash it into tiny little bits using their guitars.

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