Review of Neongod - AnarCHAOS

If you stop and think about it, reviewing metal carries a certain sort of masochistic, um, attachment to it. For me, NeonGod is one of those bands that makes me want to slide down 50 feet of horsehair rope wearing nothing but a pair of greased-up latex chaps and a velcro thong rather than review them again, and for one very simple reason; for being so very average. That’s just the thing. They do absolutely nothing wrong nor offensive in the least, but also cause little more than a shrug of indifference from me despite being a pretty good group, and that makes doing my job very difficult, and a little painful in this instance.

The problem lies with the terrible lack of energy this three-song demo manages to barely stir. Picture if you can, the simplest mid-paced chunky riffs from either Dreaming Neon Black, or Dead Heart… mixed with a sort of groove not entirely dissimilar from Prong, and performed with an early Machine Head heft. Not a bad combination for these Norwegians to attempt, really. The problem arises with the great lack of spark coming off these nondescript, shouted/growled tunes, as they chug along with the most elementary of riffs for the majority of the time. It seems like they’re just content to be as basic and simple as possible, and causes an impact only due to how very plain it sounds in the end.

What saves AnarCHAOS from being a potential ghetto Christmas ornament is the fact that this is perfectly performed, and sounds very good for being a demo. When they also finally decide to switch things up and pick up the pace, things become much more interesting. The nimble fretwork they display through choppier, increasingly aggressive technical passages (again, akin to Nevermore) really shows off the band’s undeniable abilities as skillful musicians, and the leads then supply some additional high quality with richly melodic and more soulful methods of soloing.

Yet as well and good as this all is, the lack of fire and individuality of NeonGod’s songwriting hurts the overall feel of this demo in so many ways. It’s too derivative of filler ideas from more established bands, and I wonder how long ‘potential’ will last with these guys. I’d like to hear them really turn up the rage, or even just keep doing what they’re doing but really go for the throat with their songwriting and show more of a unique vision than what they’ve shown here. It would be a shame for a band this good to be wasting their talents on playing music that sounds as consistently ordinary as this.

Release Details

Neongod

AnarCHAOS

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