Label: Godz of War Productions
Release date: May 6th, 2025
Poland is definitely my favourite metal climate, and war thematic one of my favourites when it comes to black and death metal bands. ChainSword fulfills both criteria, but that does not mean that I’m going to write eulogies. When it comes to the music, ChainSword is highly influenced by old school death metal, to be precise, they are focused on the 1990’s. Lyrically, everything that is connected with both world wars and Warhammer 40K is their occupation. “Chapter XII”, the band’s third album, contains five tracks and two bonuses. Bonuses are actually the songs that did not fit on the previous album. Lack of space, lack of money, whatever… So, the first five (“Primarch”, “Butcherhorde”, “Contemptor”, “Gorechild” and “Foresworn”) are 40K themed songs and bonuses (“Good Mourning Vietnam” and “Fox, Rats. Blood & Guts”) are as obvious, Vietnam War and WWII oriented. Quintet from Warsaw is enriched by several guest appearances. Grzegorz “Mroku” Pawlowski plays guitar solo in “Foresworn” and vocals in “Butcherhorde” are delivered by Pawel “Miodek” Mioduchowski.
From the beginning you will experience nothing more, but just a continuation of the path the band follows from the beginning (2016). The band offers an uncompromising, offensive portion of death metal. Album itself is a mid tempo death metal, production is good and the guys are good musicians. Although the mid tempo can be a warning sign that the album can go in a monotony direction, actually, it is very intense. The song that is a true killer is a bonus, “Good Mourning Vietnam”. Here, the band will delight all those who expected a more brutal sound. Personally, this is my favourite song on the album. Maybe because of the lyrical theme, maybe because of the killer riffs and fast pace, but it really stands out. Another one is the last one, “Fox, Rats. Blood & Guts”, which is the most versatile song on the album where the band plays with tempo, and again, the lyrical content is absolutely my favourite when it comes to black and death metal (WWII in general, in this song North Africa).
In the end, I have to mention the booklet. Lyrics written on the old paper splattered with blood. Maybe not the most readable font but certainly a very interesting idea.
There is not much philosophy here. If you are a fan of old school death metal influenced by Bolt Thrower (mostly), if you are a fan of the underground scene, this is the perfect album for you. They did not reinvent the wheel but they know what they are doing, they have their vision and mission and they do it with dedication and love.
