Chasing Dragons are a band who blew me away the first time I saw them live a few years ago at SOS festival, and have been developing somewhat of a reputation for a live band well-worth watching. Three years in the making and the product of an incredibly successful Kickstarter campaign, Chasing Dragons self-release Faction the follow on from 2014’s Checkmate and 2016’s Faction: Prologue EP.
‘Factionless’ starts off with a spacey sci-fi vocal intro, leading to some nice drum patterns, but compared to previous releases from the band, the production immediately feels a little off. It just doesn’t seem to have the same crunch and crisp dynamic production, instead, it just feels a little flat.
The ideas are clearly there, a post-apocalyptic vibe, chugging riffs, high energy and nice variations in the song structure, continuing into ‘How The World Went Black’ are clearly present in the song-writing, but just seem to be lost in the mix, which for a band as notably dynamic and high energy hinders more than most.
Consistent throughout, though are the drums and vocals; the drum intro to ‘Parasite’ is excellent if again suffering from the production. The vocals from Tank are notably pushed forward in the mix, and for good reason – they’re genuinely world-class vocals, which even the mix cannot hamper too much.
‘Like Gravity’ needs crisper percussion, but what is there, is another solid performance, building up nicely. The song-writing dynamics are strong and clearly, a lot of work has gone into this, and in a live environment, these songs are going to be absolutely killer.
‘Bareknuckle Lover’ is a cracking track, which has a Maiden style gallop to it in places, while ‘For Kingdom, For Glory’, is another satisfying modern Heavy Metal track with some fantastic vocal sections. ‘The Time is Ours’ is a slower number and another one that is difficult not to sing along to, and when it kicks into to the faster section it’s genuinely a great song.
‘Devil in her Eyes’ also features on Faction: Prologue EP but the change in the production is quite notable here, the same is true of ‘Whitehorse’ later on. On Prologue, the production is much fuller, dynamic and very satisfying, with this version it does notably fall flat. ‘The Connection’ is another great song, slower with some nice rolling military style drums, it serves as a more than adequate showcase for the world-class voice Tank has.
By the time final track ‘We Are The Wall’ lands there are a few things clear, Chasing Dragons are an up-and-coming modern metal band, they have some genuine potential, and can write some excellent songs. They’ve clearly produced a very good album in Faction and, if it hadn’t been for their previous work, which is not to detract from the fact that this is a damn fine album, but not the high point it could have been. Clearly a band with a bright future on the metal scene, and definitely ones to be seen live.
7.0/10
RICH PRICE