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REVIEW – The best part of being a music fan, is when something catches you up by surprise. Like say, you are in the car and turn on the radio and a song just starts playing and you find yourself wanting to hear more of the singer or band. Chugun, I absolutely knew nothing about coming into this record. Some girl emailed me and said, “ I see you are a fan of the Rachel era of Sinister and you dig Walls of Jericho and Arch Enemy. You need to hear this band called Chugun”. So, I got the cd and the second the opening track “ Virus” hit me with its force, I knew then i was going to be blown away. Denise Jani is one pissed off and intense woman in this opening track. She has a band who know how to compliment her attack. The drums just sound like your eardrums are going to explode, then you have the guitar and bass just tear into your skull. This is a band that just plays from their heart and they have passion galore on display. This is a band that I feel right now is experimenting with different genres of metal to try and showcase that they have more to offer than your typical metal band.
That is the true positive to this cd, you really never know where this band is coming from. One minute you have Denise and the band doing this straightforward attack then out of left field comes this catchy groove that takes the song into a new direction. When I review any cd, I tend to give it two listens all the way thru. The first listen is the general first impression and the second to see if it still stands up after the first time. This cd, I have played at least 12 times since I have had it, some songs even more. For all the people who love the age of the extreme female front person, the age that ushered in bands to change like Sinister, Arch Enemy and etc..and then emerge names like a Dawn Crosby and Karyn Crisis and many more..here is a new band that I feel is only to get better and grow the more they play together, the more they work together. This is a very young band, and to pull off this kind of record in the early stages is unreal and should be complemented. Remind me to never piss off lead singer Denise Jani, this woman is as calm as a earthquake. This is the kind of album that creates future huge bands, and this band my god do they have a bright future. What an impressive and devastatingly intense record this is. This is the album to break up to. This is definitely an album of the year candidate.
