Clippty Clop, Clippity clop. Listen guys! It’s The Chariot!… Not quite. The Chariot was birthed into its existence in 2003 after former Norma Jean vocalist Josh Scogin split from his position and created this
monster. Quite possibly one of the most Chaotic metalcore bands you will ever come across, The Chariot stick close to the roots Scogin planted in Norma Jean’s first release,
Bless The Martyr & Kiss The Child with rapid time changes, tasteful barks, and chanting choirs.
Josh Scogin-Vocals
Jon Terrey-Guitar
Dan Eaton-Guitar
Jon Kindler-Bass
Jake Ryan-Drums
I’m not going to lie and sit here and try to tell you this album goes above and beyond what The Chariot did on
Everything Is Alive, Everything Is Breathing, Nothing Is Dead And Nothing Is Bleeding, but I have to say they did something different. Instead of trying to make another album of sheer intensity, they went for an album that showcased their Southern Rock roots. Many of the riffs on this album bear an uncanny resemblance to what the offspring of The Allman Brothers Band and Minor Threat might wail.
The Fiancée starts off with one of the best Chariot songs to date in
Back To Back. The rapid snare drumming of Jake Ryan mixed with screaming feedback and a throaty yell by Josh Scogin give a good representation of what you will be experiencing on your flight with Chariot Airlines. Progressing through the song, we run through angry breakdowns, speedy pull-offs, and an all over heavy performance. Tracks like this are quite common on here with
The Two Dead Boys,
Heard This Noise, and
And Shot Each Other being prime examples.
Progressing through the album, I noticed that Jake Ryan does an outstanding job behind the kit. My personal opinion on Metalcore drummers is that when you’ve heard one, you’ve pretty much heard them all. But overused and stale double-bass patterns accompanied with 4/4 snare-high hat combinations are almost absent from the album. In their place, we have strange signatures accompanied with subtle fills here and there. Tracks such as
They Faced Each Other and
Forgive Me Nashville prove my point.
Hand in hand with its two new Guitar Players,
The Fiancée gives a great performance on guitars. The tone is that of beauty, with lightning changes between C and B strings, complemented with
beefy groove-oriented riffs in between. Songs such as
Then Came To Kill and
They Drew Their Swords show that
these guys know how to play their instruments. It’s not like they’ve revolutionized Metal Guitar Playing, but they sure have added to it in the fields above mentioned. One of the letdowns to this record is the lack of bass. A band this in touch with what they want in their instrumental department should at least have the bass’s volume turned up high enough to hear it, even when a fill isn’t being played.
Some of the negative aspects to
The Fiancée are the moments when the riffs start sounding recycled, and when you can’t distinguish one track from another. Annoying background choirs get a bit monotonous after one or two minutes of their use. In fact
The Trumpet should be skipped entirely if you also dislike the overuse of choirs. There isn’t much else I can identify as straight up bad. I can only say that even with all of the positives outweighing the negatives, The Chariot just failed to make anything better than just a “decent” record. It’s a fun listen if you’re in the mood, but when I boot up my computer or Black 30G Ipod, I don’t immediately flock to this album when I have nothing else in mind.
Pro’s[+]:
Great Vocals
Challenging, yet Catchy Guitar Lines
Drumming is Above average in the genre
The One-Liner:
If There’s Blood On The Roots, than there’s Blood on the Branches off of
The Deaf Policeman
Con’s[-]:
Dragging album as it goes on
Just Average
Even though I Love The Vocals, Scogin could have changed them up every once in a while to give a more intriguing listen.
Recommended Tracks
Back To Back
Forgive Me Nashville
The Deaf Policeman
