Reviewed by Andy Long

Popping this CD into my player this morning caused an old man a moment of addled confusion. You see, the liner notes tell me that I should be listening to an 11 track album, but my player tells me that there are 98 tracks contained herein? Apparently in some sort of effort to prevent copying of the promo copies the record company has opted to slice the tracks up into bite sized portions. It plays fine, just don't press shuffle! Anyway... Chasing Victory's first album is a frenetic set of 21st century hardcore rock. The band have cut their teeth with a year of constant touring since their earlier EP release and this has moulded them into an impressively tight unit. Musical comparisons could be drawn to bands like Funeral For A Friend or Reuben. The roots are in thrash metal and punk rock, with the gritty anger of the vocals, mixing smoothly with a full, melodic guitar sound. At 38 minutes this "full-length" album is a bit on the short side, there's an obligatory "slow one" thrown in the middle, but I was most impressed when the band were at their hardest with "Pre-Empty Nest Syndrome" and the killer opener "Oceans Away".

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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