Chrome Waves - Where We Live (2020)

Dropping one of the most surprisingly awesome releases of 2020, today we have Chrome Waves and their latest amalgamation of Post-Black Metal with all kinds of extra genres, under the title “Where We Live”. Featuring nearly 45 minutes of brilliantly intricate and nicely layered music that will appeal to fans from bands like Deafheaven, Abigail Williams, to Mountaineer or Alcest.

Opening with the dramatic “Hallow Dreams”, the band leads with lush instrumentation and suddenly escalates to dreamy riffs and catchy passages, all rounded up by harsh vocals. This track instantly showcases the band’s unique musical proposal as the vocal harmonies further elevate the already imposing atmosphere. This bleeds into “Gazing Into Oblivion”, a track that gives us that playful and in a way a bit pop-ish sound of bands like Amesoeurs.

Changing gears with “New Skin” and “Spoonfed”, the band focuses on clean vocals and dreamy post-rockish guitars, creating a very ethereal and engaging vibe, a bit away from their usual aggressive style of other songs. These two tracks have even a certain grungy feel that is quite well blended into this. Going back into more aggressive territories, “On the Precipice” perfectly blends both the harsh screams and up-beat tempo with dreamy interludes and elegant cello arrangements.

Saving the best for last, the sweeping melancholy of the closing title track delivers one final round of ethereal moodiness and it is probably one of the most cathartic songs in this release. Overall, “Where We Live” is one hell of an emotional release filled with intricate details and layers to be unrolled and discovered. Highly recommended for fans of the melancholic, this release delivers a unique approach that might sound like all the bands we previously mentioned, but still allows Chrome Waves to be completely original and different.

Label: Disorder Recordings

Release: September 25th, 2020

Genre: Experimental Post Black-Metal

Country: USA