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Psycho Choke: Unraveling Chaos

Melodic Metalcore

3.0/5.0

7Hard Records
www.myspace.com/psychochoke
www.psychochoke.com
Review: Craig Hartranft,  07.26.2010

I don't care if they come from Gus G's (Firewind, Ozzy Osbourne) hometown and he plays a solo on the album, Psycho Choke's Unraveling Chaos is pure mainstream-pleasing melodic metalcore. Everybody's doing it. It's the latest thing. Get what I mean. I can understand why Germany's 7Hard Records picked up Psychochoke: it fits current trends and promises to be a moneymaker for them. Well, I hope so. Market it in America, and I'm sure it will fly, even though there is little originality here.

Based upon thrash, and brutally so, Unraveling Chaos blends hardcore, a bit of melody, a few hooks, a dash of fret pyrotechnics, some basic vulgarity, and an ambitious pace to deliver, well, what everybody else is doing. Even when you consider the urban sound of Streetwise you wonder if Psycho Choke did not simply borrow a page from Korn, Linkin Park, or any other nu-metal band. It's accessible, but derivative, and I wish more songs on the album would be like this. Or like Get Down. It's the only song where I can endure the pretentious hardcore vibe. Why? Because Psycho Choke brings the melody and hooks within that same hardcore motif. Every song seems to have promise if not at the beginning, then somewhere within. Obey is a perfect example. But how long can one listen to someone screaming 'f*ck it' over and over. This is an abuse of heavy metal.

Honestly, I'm not so quick to dismiss Psycho Choke's musicianship, nor their song composition. This crew knows their craft. You could do much worse. But for me, I tire of this whole hardcore metal mixed with metal. It's as prevalent as power metal was in the Eighties. It gets old real fast. With the exception of Get Down, and maybe Streetwise, Unraveling Chaos remains mainstream metalcore muddle worth only a passing interest. Great album art and album title, however.

Note: All Amazon advertising in this review first benefits the artist, then Craig Hartranft also receives a residual. Click, and thanks for your support.

With the exception of Get Down, and maybe Streetwise, Unraveling Chaos remains mainstream metalcore muddle worth only a passing interest.

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