Heathen - The Evolution of Chaos

[Vicious Robbie]

Let's start the New Year with these veterans from the Bay Area and their new album coming out on Jan 25th in Europe and March 31st in the US called The Evolution of Chaos. Now, I'll be honest here, these guys were never big with me. Their brand of melodic thrash was decent but there weren't any hooks for me to remember them by. Now, for those of you that do love them I think you will enjoy what they've come up with for 2010. The album has a wonderful production and the guitars sound crunchy and powerful. Their melodic style of thrash is still intact but I do believe they've come up with their catchiest material yet. Lee Altus is an underrated guitarrist and his partner in crime Kragen Lum holds his own on the record. The vocals by David White may be an acquired taste for some but they sound good to me. Drummer Darren Minter does a great job and for me he is a highlight. The album is not perfect, there is still some material that I would consider filler and sometimes the songs lack real hook (Undone, Hero's Welcome and Red Tears of Disgrace come to mind) but the music is top notch. Opener "Dying Season" and the epic "No Stone Unturned" are high points. So for you old school thrashers out there, I think you'll dig this one

 

[Wyvern]

Curiously I downloaded it today and I was about to take it to your house tonight

I got straight for the epic 'No Stone Unturned' and delivered really well for me. If it's true David vocals are not as they used to be, the music is basically the type of thrash Heathen has always played so I'm really satisfied and waiting for it's release (in Japan is already out) as a 2010 good starters.

 

[Vicious Robbie]

Hahaha I beat you to the punch

I have to tell you, it's a grower...the more I listen to it the more I like it

 

[mntwinsfan]

Not quite on the level of their older stuff, IMO, but still a great album. It continues from where the 2005 demo left off.

 

[Wyvern]

Listen ot it right now completely and it's a damn solid thrash effort. Maybe not to go into the hall of thrash fame, but better than many new bands and some old bands have done lately.

 

[Metal375]

Been waiting for a long time (along with many others, I'm sure) for this one. The 2005 demo was amazing...so I know I'll like at least 3 of the songs! Just wonder how it will stack up to VoD, one of my alltime favs. Not sure if I can wait until the end of March here in the US for it - time to get a conversion table for dollars to yen!

 

[Wyvern]

Not sure if I can wait until the end of March here in the US for it - time to get a conversion table for dollars to yen!

Don't despair, actually the USA release date is February 16. I already have my copy on wishlist

 

[Caveman Ninja]

Really enjoying it, though the track A Hero's Welcome made me facepalm, being a crass, preachy, neo-con error of judgement... However I'm trying to pretend that track doesn't exist, as I'm loving the rest of the album, particularly Red Tears of Disgrace... though I have to say I kind of prefer the production on the 2005 demos... but still. I'm just happy the new Heathen album finally made it to the ears of the fans! It took long enough...

 

[delize]

So the band has all new members?

 

[Caveman Ninja]

So the band has all new members?

No, Lee Altus, David White and Darren Minter are still all intact. The bassist and 2nd guitarist are new but both do a great job, though the bass is mixed super quietly...

 

[Wyvern]

Really enjoying it, though the track A Hero's Welcome made me facepalm, being a crass, preachy, neo-con error of judgement... However I'm trying to pretend that track doesn't exist, as I'm loving the rest of the album, particularly Red Tears of Disgrace...

Dunno, my first listening passed alright. I'm gonna buy it to anyway.

Speaking of demos, how's Thrashist Regime doing lately? The material of "Terror Takes Shape" left me longing for more (I'm on a thrash rush lately)

 

[MYT]

Dunno, my first listening passed alright. I'm gonna buy it to anyway.

Speaking of demos, how's Thrashist Regime doing lately? The material of "Terror Takes Shape" left me longing for more (I'm on a thrash rush lately)[/QUOTE


Yea same for me.

 

[delize]

No, Lee Altus, David White and Darren Minter are still all intact. The bassist and 2nd guitarist are new but both do a great job, though the bass is mixed super quietly...

Thanks!

I haven't been keeping up with this band and the name David White confused me. So now I know....I'll check out the new album!

 

[Caveman Ninja]

Dunno, my first listening passed alright. I'm gonna buy it to anyway.

Speaking of demos, how's Thrashist Regime doing lately? The material of "Terror Takes Shape" left me longing for more (I'm on a thrash rush lately)

I'll still buy it for sure... I always buy albums I like, and apart from that one song I really think this is a good album. The material does grow on you too... like the song Fade Away which didn't do it for me at first but the last couple of days I can't get out of my brain...

As for Thrashist Regime, we are recording a full length album of entirely new material (well apart from The Die Is Cast which deserved a better recording). we've got a conceptual trilogy based on an adventure from a Spiderman comic and loads of other stuff... and this time instead of recording it for free we are using pro-tools and taking our time so hopefully the sound quality should be vastly superior... I'll keep you posted sir, cheers for the interest!

 

[Caveman Ninja]

Thanks!

I haven't been keeping up with this band and the name David White confused me. So now I know....I'll check out the new album!

Yeah, David Godfrey, David White, David Godfrey White, it could easily be confusing but it's definitely all the same dude

 

[Wyvern]

Thrashist Regime
full length album
entirely new material
a conceptual trilogy
pro-tools

rock:

 

[Caveman Ninja]

Cheers dude!

 

[protokragen]

Caveman Ninja,

Thanks for the compliments on "Red Tears of Disgrace." I wrote that one so I appreciate it!

Regarding the bass level... Let's just say that we're big fans of the guitar crunch. One of Lee's favorite albums is "...And Justice For All" and we have more bass than that.

Glad some of you folks are digging the album!

Cheers!

Kragen

 

[Caveman Ninja]

Caveman Ninja,

Thanks for the compliments on "Red Tears of Disgrace." I wrote that one so I appreciate it!

Regarding the bass level... Let's just say that we're big fans of the guitar crunch. One of Lee's favorite albums is "...And Justice For All" and we have more bass than that.

Glad some of you folks are digging the album!

Cheers!

Kragen

Wow! I'm honoured that you have popped by... I have to say that I can't stop listening to the album. Really it's fresh and heavy, and my previous comments about the production were first impressions... now I'm used to it I think it actually sounds much better than the demos! Though still not enough bass! and yes, crunch is the word!

As for Red Tears, it's pretty much the most Heathen-ish song on the album, could have been straight off Victims with the clean intro... so well done, absolutely brilliant! Let's hope there will be many more Heathen albums

 

[protokragen]

Caveman Ninja,

Thanks again for the compliments. I hope that there are many more Heathen albums to come as well. Cheers to that!

Kragen