Stephen
Heathen had been under the radar for quite sometimes after their last release, "Victims of Deception" in 1991, and with the overwhelming return of many of the thrash titans, they decided to come back with "The Evolution of Chaos", a new release in exactly 19 years. Before the completion of this album, Heathen actually had released a three tracks demo recordings in 2005 as a sneak peek to this long-awaited record and was met with positive appraisals by fans. And five years after that, I can say that this album possibly surpassed any thrash fans expectation that the new album will be in lower quality compared to their previous albums.
Started with a middle-eastern flavor overture, "Dying Season" opened big with a horse stampeding rhythm, unleashing the violent riffs onslaught, but not until "Control By Chaos" came up next that I found my first fave track. Empowered with classic Bay Area riffage and killer solos, this is the typical ordinary track that any thrash fan will love. The peak of the album is definitely on the 11-minutes epic of "No Stone Unturned". From the chugging intro that reminiscent of Metallica's "Sad But True" style, Heathen formed a wonderful Verse and melodic chorus. If you're not even a thrash fan will probably like this one easily. You will hear a lot of tempo change and later evolved to an even faster piece with Altus/Kragen beautiful guitar harmonies. Some other notable great tracks that I like here are "Arrows of Agony", "Bloodkult", and "Red Tears of Disgrace".
The sound production is awesome, David White's vocal was handled very well, looks like he's in an even better shape right now, Lee Altus' ultimate guitar play is perhaps the highlight of this album, but the strength of their songwriting is also applauding. A well-round release by an underrated thrash act, this one clearly deserved a perfect five stars.
Bottomline : The Evolution To Perfection