Dangerdog Music Reviews :: © 1999 - 2023 Craig S Hartranft :: All Rights Reserved
No part of this this website, including design and music reviews,
may be reproduced in any form or by any means without
the prior written permission of the publisher.
- New Music Reviews
- |
- Archives
- |
- News
- |
- Submissions
- |
- About
- |
- |
New Music Reviews, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Progressive Rock, Progressive Metal, AOR, Alternative Rock, Alternative Metal
Recent Reviews
March 2023
- RPWL: Crime Scene
- Transworld Identity: Seven Worlds
- Stormwarning: Stormwarning
- Phantom Elite: Blue Blood
- Narnia: Ghost Town
- Redemption: I Am The Storm
- Cross Country Driver: The New Truth
- The Banishment: Machine And Bone
- Seventh Crystal: Wonderland
- Demons Down: I Stand
February 2023
- Air Raid: Fatal Encounter
- Robin McAuley: Alive
- Creye: III - Weightless
- All My Shadows: Eerie Monsters
- First Signal: Face Your Fears
- Gabrielle de Val: Kiss In A Dragon Night
- We Came From Space: Overlords
- T3nors: Naked Soul
- Wig Wam: Out Of The Dark
- Khymera: Hold Your Ground
- Infinite & Divine: Ascendancy
- eMolecule: The Architect
January 2023
- Girish & The Chronicles: Back On Earth (Reissue)
- Arctic Rain: Unity
- Electric Mob: 2 Make U Cry & Dance
- Crowne: Operation Phoenix
- Ronnie Romero: Raised On Heavy Radio
- Ten: Something Wicked This Way Comes
- Riverside: ID.Entity
- Issa: Lights Of Japan
- Heroes And Monsters: Heroes And Monsters
- Big City: Sunwind Sails
December 2022
- NY Fury: I Want It All
- Tommy DeCarlo: Dancing In The Moonlight
- Tarmat: Out Of The Blue
- Scream Maker: Bloodking
- Sabu: Banshee
- Rob Moratti: Epical
- Nevena: Nevena
- Landfall: Elevate
- After Lapse: Face The Storm
Chainreaction: A Game Between Good and Evil
Chainreaction: A Game Between Good and Evil
Heavy Metal
4.0/5.0
Facebook
Pure Underground Records
Words by Craig Hartranft, 08.05.2014
Now for something completely different, at least different from what's been pitched to me from the field of female-fronted metal. Hamburg's Chainreaction is a female-fronted band, but not a symphonic, melodic death, or power metal band, and without operatic vocals. Gasp. What's happening here. After a trio of EPs, Chainreaction delivers their first full-length album, A Game Between Good and Evil.
Chainreaction: what's with the short hair?
To be truthful a listener will likely hear some power metal elements as the band can get speedy at times, but it's not always galloping double bass drums. (If recollection serves, drummer David Flenner doesn't even us two bass drums.) Mostly Chainreaction's metal comes in the form of classic heavy metal, mixed at times with speed metal, making their metal the 'keep it true' variety.
As for Conny Bethke's voice, she sings more like a traditional male metal singer, rather than as an operatic singer. She's rather straight forward voice, and never goes screamo or attempts to get out of her range. At times the music seems to over power her, but she holds her own. The music, once more, is also rather straight forward heavy metal. Songs like Angels Never Die and Warrior take a moderate pace, others like Where Is God or Be Honest can race along. What you do get is powerful guitar leads and lots of them driven by an equally powerful and thundering rhythm section. The mix was handled well bringing up Christoph Quant's bass line. While I'm not always keen on female-fronted metal bands, especially in the traditional metal genre, Chainreaction won me over simply because their classic heavy metal is quite good and so makes their vocalist sound good too. Recommended.
Tweet
In Short
As opposed to the complex field of female-fronted symphonic metal bands, Chainreaction goes for more traditional heavy metal, and they're quite good at too.
Find A Review
Alphabetical Index
Album of the Week
Arriving from Finland, the origins of Transworld Identity come from Mila Bosa, a singer in a cover band. But it wasn't enough. She aspired to write and perform original songs, forming Transworld Identity ... [ Read More ]