CHASTAIN
Surrender To No One
Leviathan (2013)
Rating: 8.5/10
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I was literally buzzing with excitement when I heard that Ohio’s Chastain (the brainchild of guitar wizard David T. Chastain) were reforming, and once again featuring original members Leather Leone on vocals and bassist Mike Skimmerhorn, with additional drummer Stian Kristoffersen.
I have to admit that Chastain’s debut opus, 1985’s Mystery Of Illusion, is one of my favourite metal records of all time, made all the more oaken by its cover art. Chastain somehow managed to hit the metal nail of the head with his style – never once becoming archetypal or predictable despite the tales of swords and sorcery.
Surrender To No One is an 11-track platter which once again showcases the remarkable talents of Leather Leone, with this being her first venture alongside Chastain since 1990’s For Those Who Dare. Kate French had done more than an adequate job of filling Leather’s boots but Leone’s style which graced our ears during those early albums embedded itself into my soul. And so now the trio are back, wielding axes, stoking fires and summoning demons, and as soon as ‘Stand And Fight’ comes slithering into the room we know we’re in for another fantastic ride.
Leone is slightly gruffer, as you would expect after all those years of wailing like a banshee, but her gravelly rasp is perfect company for those blazing riffs and some really potent drumming from Kristofferson who plays like a man possessed. ‘Stand and Fight’ is the perfect anthem as the band rises from its tomb to view the light and take in the world around them, and it doesn’t take long to dust itself off as a track and then gallop headlong into those ill-lit woodlands. Then we are engulfed by the flames of ‘Call Of The Wild’, another pounding composition featuring Leather’s most lethal vocal performance and again those battering ram drums.
Chastain has clearly seen this reunion as more than a flash in the pan, as the band are tighter and heavier than ever, and this is none more evident than on ‘Evil Awaits Us’ with its hypnotic introductory solo and that bombastic drum sound which is reinforced by Skimmerhorn’s volatile bass. Leather sneers and rasps like a dervish, her bewitching tones giving a majority of male vocalists a run for their money as she barks anthem after anthem, and coming into her own on the menacing plod of ‘I Am Sin’ and the ferocious judder of ‘Deep Down In The Darkness’.
To say that David T. Chastain and company have returned with a bang is an understatement, but now the fires are raging again I see no reason for these flames to not grow higher and higher as the likes of the pacey ‘Freedom Within’ and simmering ‘Bleed Through Me’ fan those orange embers like the wings of some vast dragon, rising from the darkness to spread its fiery word.
Very much a statement of intent, Surrender To No One is a heavy metal slab that has made a huge impact on this listener.
Neil Arnold
