2018
Formed in the winter of 2013 by guitarist/vocalist Bill Klopfer (Murder Castle, Penitentary) and drummer Chris Anderson (Murder Castle), Kaos Reign is a (heavy & harsh) groove metal/modern metal band from Norwalk, Connecticut that has three full-length albums to it's name. Due to drop on April 2nd, 2018, "Epiphany" is the latest (and possibly best to date?) release from this U.S. metal trio that also includes bassist Matt Dugan (Infinition). Starting off with the self-explanatory "Selfish Backstabber", Kaos Reign's new album comes along two years after the release of "Screaming for Salvation". It features twelve tracks in all and has a run-time of fifty six minutes. At five minutes and twenty six seconds, "Punish Myself" the longest number on "Epiphany". Track number seven ("Under the Knife") is the shortest at 3:54. In addition to modern metal and (Pantera-inspired) groove metal, album number three from these Connecticut metal merchants features elements of death metal, doom metal, nu-metal, and (primitive) thrash. While there are no bad tracks on "Epiphany" (everything seems nice and square) nothing really jumps out at you either. Does that make the album unworthy of praise? Admittedly, I actually sat and pondered that very question for quite awhile. Ultimately I decided that the answers is "Not really.". If anything, Kaos Reign is good at what they do. It might be compressed and not very colorful, but the metallic "Epiphany" still knows how to slay the proverbial beast. Fans of (underground) modern metal and (edgy) groove metal should find much to like about this twelve track release. So should Kaos Reign's loyal fans. I might have enjoyed a few more guitar solos and/or some wicked bass lines. To that end, a bit more "Pantera groove" would be another one of my recommendations as would raw thrash, but really who am I to judge a trio like this? With three albums to their credit since 2014, Kaos Reign seems to be doing just fine all by themselves...
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