Author: Rok Klemše
Artist: Chaosstar
Label: On Parole Productions
Release: 2009
Runtime: 47:00
Rating: 5/5
Chaosstar formed in 2004 and, like any serious band, wanted to record a great debut album. The road there was pretty thorny, though, and Lifetime, which is finally here after a good four years of hard graft, is the product of persistence, stubbornness and pure love of music from all four members. An unimaginable number of hours of recording, producing (and beer drinking) and playing went into Lifetime, not to mention a nice little pile of greenbacks. So, was it all worth it?
Damn right it was! Lifetime is the kind of album a band can look at as their baby… well, given the long wait, make that twins, triplets or a few more snotty-nosed kids, and we fans can proudly put an album like this on the shelf. Enough sentimentality, let’s get to the facts. Lifetime is a seriously ambitious piece of work: a fully fleshed-out concept album about a man sent to Earth to sow chaos and evil on our blue planet. Over the album’s good fifty minutes, the main character is torn between good and evil, and the music matches, full of ups and downs and extremes at both ends. The flow of the album is incredibly varied thanks to the switching between calm passages and fast, aggressive ones, and the dynamics and variety of the whole record are simply breathtaking. Progressive metal albums can easily end up stretched out and boring, but Lifetime doesn’t have a single such moment. The debut opens and closes with an intro and an outro, held together by the central 14-minute epic Lifetime V-XVIII, with five stormy tracks in between. All perfectly in line with chaos theory, which says that chaos is orderly at its core. The instrumental parts are exactly like that: Vasja’s and Jure’s guitar lines are incredible, chaotic, supersonic-fast and apocalyptic, the riffs are killer, and the solos are worthy of the greatest guitar names. The rhythm section is just as bombastic. Darko’s bass lines complement the guitars fantastically and show off a lovely bag of breathtaking bass tricks. Primož’s drumming is downright devastating, incredibly varied and dynamic, full of jaw-dropping transitions, cymbal work and ultra-fast double bass. Individually, this seemingly chaotic foursome might really sound that way, but together they form an extremely coherent whole, driven by the incredible musical chemistry between the four of them. Tracks like Devil’s Whisper, Hurricanes of Madness and the “Maiden-esque” Dreams of Reality are a real hit of progressive metal mixed with heavy and thrash influences. Those unforgettable, infectious and impressive instrumental parts, which even big metal names like Iron Maiden, Dream Theater or Symphony X wouldn’t be ashamed of, get a big boost from Jure’s fantastic vocals. He masters inhuman heights à la Rob Halford, and sounds great in the calmer, mid-range vocal passages too. The other three members occasionally contribute backing vocals, which round out the overall sound and above all enrich the unforgettable choruses. The occasional female vocals make for an interesting counterpoint, and even more so the guest growl from Deni of Ambassador of Sifilis, who stages a symbolic, final, eternal battle between good and evil with Jure on On My Way. Erika Gričar, who plays harp on three tracks, is likewise a wonderful contrast to the brutal and aggressive parts. Last but not least, we have to mention the praiseworthy work of Primož Jelševar, who delivered a crystal-clear, sharp production that properly highlights all the necessary parts, while the final mastering was handled by Dave Collins, who has mixed for big names like Black Sabbath, Joe Cocker, Danny Elfman, Motley Crue and others.
Lifetime is a praiseworthy release that has everything a conceptual masterpiece needs. Chaosstar have put out an album that can compare itself, without shame or modesty, with great conceptual works like Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, Metropolis pt.2:Scenes From a Memory and others. And an album like this is worth waiting a whole lifetime for! Still, guys, don’t make us wait this long again.
Lineup
Jure Jurca – vocals, guitar
Vasja Čepič – guitar
Darko Ramot – bass guitar
Primož Jelševar – drums
GUESTS:
Erika Gričar – harp (1,5,8)
Tina Centrih – vocals (1,5)
Barbi Peskar – vocals (1,5)
Rok Šinkovec – piano, keyboards (4)
Matjaž Ličar – piano, keyboards (5)
Deni – growls (7)
Production
Primož Jelševar
Track List
1.Lifetime I-IV
2.Devil’s Whisper
2.Hurricanes Of Madness
3.Rebirth
4.Lifetime V-XVIII
5.Dreams Of Reality
6.On My Way
7.Lifetime XIX
