In the last few years, we’ve thankfully seen Kolkata’s metal circuit have a few solid releases to their name, to get them back on the map in some regard at least. In their gig-parched city, metal bands certainly have had it tough, with dwindling turnout and plenty of drama (why else is it called a “scene”?). But now the modern metal bands who have always delivered – What Escapes Me, Yonsample, Chronic Xorn – are having their day in the sun with formidable releases.
On Chronic Xorn’s new EP For These Sins Who Must Die , there is plenty of pummelling, incredible grooves and a sense of melody that would make many death metal fans happy. Of course, the idea of deathcore and crossing that with death metal is always a path that can run into gimmicky territory. Chronic Xorn are mostly avoiding the deathcore clichés, but there’s certainly several death metal familiarities that crop up in their six-track EP.
When they crush on the title track ‘For These Sins Who Must Die’, they turn to wiry melodic guitars on ‘Necropolis III’, much in the vein of punishing death metal by the likes of The Black Dahlia Murder. What clinches it of course, is the conviction with which the band moves into a groovy portion and then dips back into incisive riffage and double-bass madness. It’s almost regal, but then they start over with the count of the drumbeat on ‘Justice By the Act of Violence’, which relents only when it launches into harmonics and then arrives at a somewhat similar sonic portion as the preceding tracks. Guitarists Biswarup Bardhan and Suvam Moitra rain down a dense dissonance on ‘Vox Populi’, which thankfully changes things up. The band goes all-out with the start-stop riffing on ‘The Last Stand’, titled to signify its enormity. Drummer Dipayan Chakraborty comes across as many-limbed by this point, so there’s little held back on For These Sins Who Must Die .
Get the album on chronicxorn.bandcamp.com
