APOCALYPSE MOON

Never heard of a band called The Order Of Chaos? Neither had I, until recently.  The five from the Canadian Edmonton celebrate mercilessly hard heavy metal with a female front shouter. The band was founded in 2004 by John Simon Fallon. With APOCALYPSE MOON, the third studio album has been published. In November / December the musicians are on European tour, opening for Battle Beast.

With the opener, “The Anthem Of Pain,” the five Canadians show us the ropes, after a short introduction by keyboards hijack the guitars to the listener. Singer Amanda Kiernan alternates easily between powerful clean vocals, hard screams and sardonic growls. There are also grandiose guitar melodies backed by double bass. And so it goes on in “Death After Life“- banging guitars, powerful riffs, filigree hooks. It is dominated by clear vocals, but is interrupted by growls. In “Indoctrination” Amanda almost screams the hell out of herself, the twin guitars come impressively from the earphones and the drums stomp to themselves. In “Downfall” the pace is first withdrawn. The song starts with acoustic guitars before the electric guitars come punchy. But this is just the calm before the storm, soon high-speed metal once again is celebrated. The singing is mainly clean and very melodic.

The entry into “Evil Surrounds Me” is melodically before the guitar riffs start. The powerfully chanted chorus is catchy and Amanda Kiernan can show what a great singer she is. In the second part great guitar solos can be heard. “Survival of the Richest” starts with stomping drums and straight forwarding guitar riffs. Even the double bass strikes again, later partly frantic sounding guitar hooks. The title track “Apocalypse Moon” is characterized by high-speed guitar playing and moving forward drums.  The singer knocks out one growl after another. Banging riffs and angry growls, that is “The Venom”. They are joined by powerful clean vocals and hard-hitting screams.

“Sexwitch” starts with banging guitars and driving drums. Amanda is singing with her clean voice. But without screams apparently nothing goes, not even on this song. There are virtuoso guitar passages, the two guitarists throw the ball to each other. “Victim Of Circumstance” invites downright to headbanging, catchy riffs, clean played guitars and clean vocals dominate the song. “Deceiver” begins with rhythmic guitar riffs. But then again carved on the eardrums as if there were no tomorrow. Clear vocals, growls and high-pitched screams alternate. Additional there are catchy guitar hooks. In the middle-section the pace is somewhat withdrawn and the song sounds almost contemplative, but only briefly. Contemplative sounding piano at the beginning of the final song “The Devil You Know That” suggests that the band needed a breather. But this is not so, soon the ballad-starting will be replaced by punchy guitar and driving drums. Again there are beautiful clear vocal lines that are backed by brilliant guitar melodies. For me, this is probably the best song on the album.

Oh boy, what an amazing album The Order Of Chaos have published. This is high-speed metal par excellence. Musically the quintet is comparable to their Canadian fellow countrymen Kobra And The Lotus or Unleash The Archers. The singing is somewhere in the intersection of Doro, Alissa White-Gluz (Arch Enemy) or Maria Brink (In This Moment). The Crazy Canucks treat themselves and the audience almost no respite, always kicks-ass!

In the band information of the label, I found the following:

A band needs a fantastic singer – THE ORDER OF CHAOS have one with the equally enchanting as well as talented Amanda! Her voice covers all moods and shades in metal – she sings like a fay, roars like a beast and wails like a whore.

There is nothing to add. Amen!

Video clip to “Apocalypse Moon”: https://youtu.be/HIP9Ba4qFT8

Lineup:

Amanda Kiernan – Vocals
John Simon Fallon – Guitars
John Saturley – Guitars
Tim Prevost – Drums
Barrett Klesko – Bass

Label:  Killer Metal Records

Out: November 13th 2015

Duration: 54:32

Track list:

• The Anthem Of Pain

• Death After Life

• Indoctrination

• Downfall

• Evil Surrounds Me

• Survival Of The Richest

• Apocalpyse Moon

• The Venom

• Sexwitch

• Victim Of Circumstance

• Deceiver

• The Devil That You Know

Release date: 13-11-2015
Reviewer: Rainer Kerber
Score: 8