The second part of our Jeff Wilson triple-bill: His main band, Chrome Waves who released a new record a few months ago, called The Rain Will Cleanse. Interestingly, it’s less Black-Metal and more of a mixture of Post-Punk and Art-Metal. And an interesting one, too.
There is something about this record that reminded me of a line from Tool’s best song ”Ænema” - “Cause I’m praying for rain / I’m praying for tidal waves”. There is a certain longing in that song, a wish for something to change, to become clean again. And in some way, this new record evokes the same feeling. While the first full-length A Grief Observed was still more of a Blackgaze record with some touches from Post-Rock and Art-Rock, the new one feels the other way around. The basis is now Post-Punk and there are a few minor touches of Blackgaze (with emphasis on the “-gaze”) like the ascending crescendos in songs like ”A Future”, which definitely comes closest to A Grief Observed.
On the other hand there is a track like ”Wind Blown” which in itself is a track that is very hard to categorize – it is melodic as hell, the vocals are wonderful and the lyrics are well-crafted even though they might be a tad too romantic for some: ”When the sky turns and the rain begins to fall / I will wait here / forever / As I’m waiting and the sky turns to black / there is sorrow”. Yes, there is a sense of Gothic atmosphere here, but Gothic in the sense of Stabbing Westward, who also combined dark elements and lyrics with upwards-reaching songs. The difference to Chrome Waves is that the basis for the songs is not Electronic Rock but Post-Punk and Post-Rock.
Interesting about the record is, that many people will now say that the band took a totally different approach to music, which is simply wrong, because these elements have all been there before, in many songs. And if one listens to the last track ”Aspiring Death”, one should find a lot of the same, “posty” qualities that turned the band from being an insider-deal into a front-story. The track has he same dark vocals and growls that were much more frequent before and the intro is a pure Post-Blackgaze dream – a bit noisy, a bit growly, with a lot of Post-Metal crunch and yet supported by some elusive synths just before the doomy drums kick in and the dragging arpeggios keep the pace interesting.
If you like your Post-Punk combined with a lot of atmospheric Post-Rock, a longing for change and a sense for good songwriting (even with a certain melodic appeal), then Chrome Waves’ new record will be just the thing for you, as it combines all of them, and a bit more. And please check back tomorrow for the finale of our Jeff Wilson-appreciation series!
