Chronos “2010 demo”

The debut demo from UK act Chronos kicks off with a series of ambient hums and arpeggiated clean guitars over dense washes of bass, but don't let those relaxed atmospheres fool you. While there's a good balance of breathing room throughout this four-song, 23-minute outing, once they get going there are some devastatingly pounding rhythms, dissonant textures, and intense shouting/screaming vocals happening here. The overall approach reminds of that whole "Neur-Isis" type of sound—before it got watered down with boring "post-rock" influences and generally drawn out, artsy bullshit. There's just enough layering to thicken things up and add some character, but compared to many bands of this nature there's something refreshingly "stripped down" about these compositions that really works. They've got that plodding, hypnotic repetition angle down, and the straightforward approach to the instrumentation brings out a lot of detail in the vocals. I really find the vocals to be particularly awesome: They're certainly better enunciated than most, and without losing any harshness or feeling. Good stuff. There's a hell of a lot of promise here, so I'll look forward to seeing how the band perfects things as they progress...

Chronos "Expectation Turns the Colour of Fear"

I'm not sure if physical copies exist, but you can download the entire demo for free from Chronos' Bandcamp page, so... have at it:

[DOWNLOAD] Chronos "2010 demo" (@ Bandcamp)