Rites of Chaos

Everybody knows French people are good at making, ingesting and digesting cheese. They have historically proven they know what to do with lactose and guillotines. They also produce worldwide known wine and have incomprehensible barbecue assembling instructions, but what about metal? If you asked me some years ago about French metal I would have answered something like “duh…”. Now I can number a fistful of bands, that not only do I enjoy, but think they are very good at what they do, deserving a spot in the vast collection of great, forgotten bands.

Rites of Chaos explodes in your face in the best Exciter fashion, with pure speed metal at full power. This band combines the Exciter sound and intensity, with the sense of melody of Pokolgép, the frantic Onslaught soloing and the catchiness of Running Wild. Yes, they are that good, and it’s also important the fact that they were that good even before those other bands had established as legends. The personal touch of the band is the French singing, and even though I’m not fond of the French language, after listening to the music I couldn’t care less.

We won’t have the most pristine production for this mid-eighties release, but hey, it’s more or less well balanced; the bass is a bit low and drums are a bit high, but this is a very good combination for this style if you have such a great drummer. Additionally we get that 80s typical foggy sound that gives the music a bit of a rustic touch. Aaaaah, sweet, sweet 80s… But this wonderful 80s sound isn’t the only good thing; we also have awesome musicianship and a band with a lot of chemistry. Starting with the high pitched vocals, we get a very dramatic / melancholic singing – something unusual in a predominantly speed metal album –, but always heartfelt and sometimes with an additional tone of bitterness and frustration – “L’orgie des damnes” sounds especially bitter -, which combines perfectly with both the melodic and rawer tunes. The guitar work is impeccable; very catchy Exciter like riffs in the rhythm section, with also similar intense, relentless drumming and some great technical solos that remind me of Onslaught, like the great solo in “L’orgie des damnes” that resembles “Metal forces”. Although the bass is a bit low, once in a while it will pop up to remind you that he is there, and what he does, he does well; actively double the rhythm guitars, and add a hint of depth to the music. If this wasn’t enough reason to be interested, you’ll also find that Rites of Chaos is very catchy and varied in song styles; speed metal destroyers like “La revanche des dieux”; headbangable, uptempo tunes like “L’orgie des damnes”, and more melodic, sing-along songs like “D’invincible force de la mort”. So if you want speed metal you’ve got it. If you want melodic tunes you’ve got it. And if you need something that will quickly get stuck in your mind, then you also have it.

I personally love the album from beginning to end, but I find addictive and brilliant “La revanche des dieux”, “L’orgie des damnes”, “Ombre du malheur” and “Demon eyes”. The first track, “La revanche des dieux”, is the speed metal burst out explosion; awesome pounding drumming, very melancholic melodies, extremely catchy chorus and a flashy solo to make it complete; the perfect speed metal song. With “L’orgie des damnes” we get a slower pace than the previous one, but the main riff is so headbangable, and the solo is so good, technical and catchy that it deserves a spot among the best songs. “Ombre du malheur” has almost 7 min timing, and yet it manages to keep your attention during all the song, unlike Alastor’s soporific debut, where over-length was a serious problem. On the contrary, Demon Eyes is a competent band, and know how to make a long song flow, including a slow middle part in the vein of “Victim of changes”, a mid-paced instrumental passage and the final part with the solo and the simple, yet effective, “ooo-oh, eeee-eh” chorus. Finally, “Demon eyes” is the catchiest song of the pack, with the greatest sing-along chorus since “Prisoners of our Time”; “Georgieee Deeeeeeemon, Georgieeeeeee Deee-emon” – ok, I may have made the Georgie part up, but it sounds alike. The beauty of this song is that it’s so damn simple; take the simplest drumming in the whole album, add a very catchy, simple main riff ala “Heavy metal maniac” and then finish it with that excellent chorus. The result is a very classic heavy metal styled song, and a total winner.

There’s nothing higher than this in France except for Roquefort cheese, so I strongly recommend this album to those who like bands like Exciter, ADX or Onslaught, and also look for something more melodic. You should also like: the follow-up Garde a Vue and Exciter’s Heavy Metal Maniac and Violence & Force.

“…give us the necessary power to revenge us from all those who detest the demon…”

While early metal from this band’s home country was often demonized (demon-eyezed?) by those who knew it existed (ask the leisurely metalhead about old French metal and watch his brow furrow as he searches the room for it), Demon Eyes conjured up the fairly impressive Rites of Chaos, a very French eight-tracker that doesn’t get too fancy for its own good as it paddles around the year’s stylistic crossroads with a head high enough above water to see the sites. With this survival skill we get a casting of thick, traditional Euro-armor that’s shined up to endure whatever white, speedy heat waves that exist, cues taken from anything and everything the guys had heard back to who-knows-when without getting stranded beyond ’80 (*actually, I prove myself wrong further down the page). Save for some sing-songy choruses of a track or two, the execution is about as cutting edge as you can get when regarding such a traditional base that’s lived up to ’84, and it’s an edge sharpened by a cool track like “Hymn to the God of Storms”, the album’s wordless finale, that’s an enticingly eclectic mix of the last four years plus a power-ish speed metal revelation a nifty future act like Mephisto would happily cull from the storm.

Catchy moments are plentiful, often spreading like an infection as the songwriting proves itself beyond competent with each tune that hooks by; while some aren’t quite skippable yet border on average, there’s still not a bad song in the bunch. Vigorous solos via P. Chastagnol and T. Masson persist in punching up the aural aroma without over-announcing themselves, but alas, there’s one barb anchoring Rites of Chaos from higher citings of glory and it’s Philippe Masson and his very French-inflected nwobhm vocals, glamorless and familiar in their common mid/high range that stab at a frequency somewhere between Nightmare’s two slabs of yellow mustard = satisfactory, but luckily not underwhelmingly so.

The disc’s fury resides in “God’s Revenge”, “Curse of Two Cities” and the closing instrumental, tunes that ride in on speed metal’s horse if only side-saddle, animated with third gear anxiety without becoming at all obnoxious. These are the warriors heading the charge into the decade’s mid years; nice to have around not only to the ear, but to dispel any imagined accusations that the five-piece are merely rehashing what’s already been hashed. With its changeful disposition, the longish title track is another cool adversary, scraping both edges of the band’s musical spectrum with ease while hearkening back a few more years yet* as rhythms oddly ‘sky’ across headphones like an old psyche single: though minor, it’s interesting and unexpected. Holding the wagon train together is a production that’s chunked-out even while the guitars are a tad depth-deprived. Oh well.

I like the band’s un-workmanlike work ethic, plain and simple.

Though today they have no identity whatsoever, this isn’t an act or an album that can be thrown to the lions. Oh wait, wasn’t that a fate for crappy Italian bands?