VORAGAN: CHAOS DREAMS
★★★★
Solid first release from Ipswich/Colchestrian death metal quartet.
Chaos Dreams is the first EP by death/doom metallers Voragan, and they have done a fine job on it. Blending the more melodic side of the dark side of metal with some more plain evil-sounding (in a good way) stuff, and throwing in a few distinctive elements for good measure, it's a strong effort that shows good potential, albeit with the need for further refinement.
Criticisms first (getting them out of the way) - the most obvious aspect of the EP that needs improving is the vocals. The mix of cleans and death growls would work well, if they were not so quiet! There are hints of delightfully violent depth to the growls, but they suffer simply from being a bit muted at times, and the cleans may just need a spot of work on being a bit more...melodic. But vocals here need to be strong, and they don't quite step up.
That aside, it's otherwise top notch. It builds from an intro of moody piano/strings into the quietly brooding start of Epitaph For Paradise, which itself then breaks into glorious heavy...ness. Add to it the impressively brave 6/7 minute (respectively) epics of Fallen Angel/Chaos Dreams and shazam, we have a winner. The musicianship across the EP is very good - particularly, there's some great soloing, and the aforementioned great touches that add some great distinctivity (that's a word now. Deal with it) such as a noodly bass interlude on Chaos Dreams that carries the song through with some dark tones.
All in all, Voragan have made something quite impressive for a first release. Sure, there is some work needed, but if they'd made a perfect EP straight up, where would there be to go next? Damn good metal with great potential - keep it up. It's £2.50 as well, so support local bands and buy it!
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