Description
There’s music that is meant to be heard, there is music that is meant to be experienced, and then there is Paul Chain’s music. To put it plainly, his unique blend of archaic rock, psychedelic atmosphere, church choir ambiences and Sabbath influenced doom metal lay somewhere in between the realm of what is heard and what is otherwise experienced. The style that drives the spirit of this music is definitely identifiable to anyone who is immersed in the mysticism of Pentagram, Trouble, Sleep and others of the emerging scene of the early to mid 80s, but where usually a few little nuances make these acts distinct, Paul Chain has staked out territory all his own with an extremely exaggerated variant of the sub-genre that has lost none of its mystique in the passing decades.
Tracklist:
1 Occultism
2 Armageddon
3 Voyage To Hell
4 17 Day
5 Pentagon Society *
6 Vivid Eyes In The Dark 18 *
Credits:
Bass – Claud Galley (tracks: 5), Paul Dark (tracks: 1 to 4, 6)
Drums – Thomas Hand Chaste (tracks: 5)
Drums, Chorus – Eric Lümen* (tracks: 1 to 4, 6)
Guitar, Keyboards, Chorus – Paul Chain
Vocals, Chorus – Gilas (tracks: 4)
Notes:
* are bonus tracks on CD version only.
Review from: www.goodbadmusic.com
There must be something terribly wrong with things in general, down there in Italy. PAUL CHAIN (born Paolo Catena) was founding member of DEATH S.S., one of the bands that I truely truely truely truely consider GENIUS. Luckily, when DEATH S.S. split up, it wasn’t the end, cause what madman PAUL CHAIN delivered afterwards and ever since, in an uncountable amount of records, is one of a kind and of the same quality. It’s even save to say that PAUL CHAIN carried on the torch of DEATH S.S. while the band under the same name terribly degenerated after Paul’s split. And this, you guessed it, is his first and best effort.Singing in a language that doesn’t exist (the inlet says “it’s purely phonetic), this man manages to combine the over-sweetness and rottenness of southern italian religiosity with riffs that have to be heard to be believed. Not too much metal wanking here, just totally out in space leads and an aura that weighs a fucking ton. This record IS depressing and it’s like somebody drags you into an icecold bath during the songs. Fuck me Jesus, I could go on and find metaphors for how “Detaching from Satan” works on me forever and ever. Have you ever heard such a Dante-esque metal record? This is not of this earth. The only complaint I have that his is just a 12″ and not of the playing time of the boxsets Chain later released (one was a totally twisted opera!). I remember how I kept writing letters to Paul Chain, without ever hearing back from him. And I mean, I even made Kurt from Siege respond me back in the day – but Paul Chain? No way. Too cool to answer fan mail. I follow that formula too now.
If you think a “punk” (people in their 40s with a good income) shouldn’t listen to metal cuz it’s just not okay or something, then please leave this blog at once and never come back. Thank you.
To my german speaking readers: I strongly suggest to read Peter Winkler’s “Friedhof der bitteren Orangen” [“Cemetary of the bitter oranges”] while playing this (don’t know whether the book’s been translated into english or other non-civilized languages).
