Chrome Division – 3rd Round Knockout (2011)

Featuring a new vocalist (the guy from Susperia) and a different sound (mainly Southern Rock influences), we have Chrome Division and their third full-length release “3rd Round Knockout”. Featuring Shagrath on guitars, this band has gained momentum with their first two releases and their combination of Heavy Metal and Hard Rock elements. However, we foresee some difficulties in their future due to their sudden change of musical style and change of vocalist.

While the ‘Southern’ Chrome Division is not bad, it is also leap years behind bands like The New Black and similar others. “3rd Round Knockout” features 10 very catchy songs that do get a bit repetitive and dull after the first five. Shady Blue has an interesting voice, but it is not rough enough for this kind of music.

The album opener “Bulldogs Unleashed” is actually one of the most ‘brutal’ songs of this album with massive guitars and a very dense atmosphere. The solos are excellent and greatly give a boost to this otherwise very linear song. On “7 G-Strings” we immediately hear the Southern elements in the band’s sound and their desire to emulate bands like The New Black as we mentioned before.

As songs fly by, the initial good impression of this album starts to fade away and you start to doze off. “Zombies & Monsters” has to be the funniest track in this release due to its lyrics and somewhat catchy music. “The Magic Man” is a song that feels completely ripped off form main-stream Southern/Hard Rock and at this point we lost most of our interest in this release.

With the cover of “Ghost Riders in the Sky”, the band surely gets some creativity points but also loses all street-creed the managed to keep up until this moment. The vocalist does a terrible job in the chorus section, at this point we almost wanted to cry. However, the guitar work in this song is very nicely done and enjoyable. The best song of this release comes under the name of “Satisfy My Soul”, featuring great guitar work and some more evident Heavy Metal influences.

In general, “3rd Round Knockout” will surely set this band back a couple of flights of stairs. They have managed to change their sound and vocalists in a very abrupt fashion that will shock people that expected something else from the band. Buy under your own risk and be warned this is hardly the Chrome Division of their first two releases.

Release: May 17th, 2011

Country: Norway