Praise the loud it's another Chastain album! "CJSS" to be exact, Mr.
Chastain's not so alter ego, where the well known six string master
blaster puts himself once again to the test while at the same time
testing the true "mettle" of his core group of followers that are
nothing short of narrow-mindedly devoted!
It's good to hear from them
again, now taking up residence on Pavement Music where hopefully a
deeper European presence will follow, as it should. The former Leviathan
cranks 'em out loud and proud, same as you remember. In and out of view
over the years, the members did stay active individually, with Chastain, of
course, doing his own projects under the mark of his own label.
Now, banded together for the first time in years, the end result "King Of The
World" is a mighty and majestic product that recalls metal's glory years
from an act that helped create them. Chastain serves up a heaping
helping of technical prowess, which thankfully continues to fit the songs
rather than run wildly all over the place as some others of the mold
have been known to do. So, "CJSS" is right away, first and foremost, the
band, together again working in total unison - progressively
underwhelming, directly effective!
"Kings Of The World," the opening
song, is probably the best one here, although an argument could be made for
"The Executioner's Song" or "Thief of Hearts," which simply pound your
head right into the ground with a painfully grinding and authoritative
back beat that'll make you reach for the old leather gloves and throw
that fist in the air just like the good old days.
To be honest, this has a very post-Sabbath feel to it, during the Martin
era. I kinda dig
the rainbow like effectiveness of "The Fall Of Babylon," where Jinkens on
vocals does well to fit the relatively soft parts, which, if we were only
to judge by the past six scorchers, our first thought would be "no way."
"CJSS" delivers just what has always been expected of them, and this might
even be a more complete record than I remember from days past. The
signature Chastain staples are all present and accounted for, and the
song writing continues to trudge confidently down memory lane. Speaking
of which, stay tuned for a relatively relaxing, if not oddly formulated,
cover of Tull's "Locomotive Breath!"
