CHOSEN — Resolution (review)

CHOSEN — Resolution album cover Album · 2013 · Melodic Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
UMUR
"Resolution" is the debut full-length studio album by Irish, Dublin based death metal/metalcore act Chosen. The album was released through the band´s Bandcamp profile at a "Name Your Price tag in March 2013. Chosen released quite a few EPs and a couple of demos before the release of "Resolution". They have an interesting history as the whole band at one point relocated to Vancouver, Canada. All members moved back to Ireland again, but two members then decided to move back to Canada. After a shorter hiatus the two remaining members opted to continue with Chosen and "Resolution" was therefore recorded as a two-piece consisting of David McCann (drums) and Paul Shields (guitars, vocals, bass).

The music on the 9 track, 54:10 minutes long album is technical/progressive death metal/metalcore. It´s not technical for the sake of it and the same can be said about the progressive leanings on the album. This is the kind of album where the music as a whole is in focus and not unnecessary instrumental noodling or awkward experimental ideas. The music is heavy, energetic, and very well played. There is a good balance between heavier aggressive parts (typically with clever angular riffing and tempo changes) and more atmospheric parts. The clean guitar parts on the album generally leave great impact and bring nice variation to the music. The vocal department is also pretty varied with both high pitched screaming "core" type vocals, clean vocals, and the occasional growling vocal part too. The former mentioned vocal style is the dominant vocal style on the album though. I hear references to acts like Meshuggah and Fear Factory (mostly in the clean sung chorus of "Asch's Paradigm") and in the clean vocal parts even references to an alternative rock act like A Perfect Circle. The high pitched screaming vocals are a pretty harsh listen and if I have to mention a minor weakness about "Resolution", it´s those vocals. It´s probably an aquired taste though and fans of metalcore type vocals pretty surely won´t have the slightest issue with the vocals on this album. The clean vocals are genereally well sounding and they add a lot to the music.

The sound production is clear and powerful. A brillant production to my ears and I´m surprised this is a self-released (and I assume self-financed) album. Everything on "Resolution" reeks class and high quality and it´ll put to shame quite a few label releases that I´ve listened to in my time. A 4 star (80%) rating is fully deserved.
Share this review

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Stereo Grief Metalcore
GREYHAVEN (KY)
Buy this album from MMA partners
Unearthly Litanies of Despair Death Metal
ENGULFED
Buy this album from MMA partners
It Beckons Us All....... Black Metal
DARKTHRONE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Death Is Not The End Doom Metal
GLOSSA
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Way Forward Sludge Metal
BLACK TUSK
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us