Review by Shadowdoom9 (Andi) for Chariot, The - Long Live (2010)

I don't think I have listened to The Chariot before this album became this month's Revolution feature release. Once again I found another diamond in the rough totally worth adding to my collection. Thanks for this, Daniel!

The Chariot had already made 3 albums before this, each more popular than the last, and their 4th album Long Live is filled with relentless energy. Unlike a band like Motionless in White that often balances aggressive verses with sweet choruses, The Chariot is firmly set in pure metalcore throughout each song, making the genre more exciting for the heavier fans. Long Live proves that the band is standing high in the metalcore game.

Opening track "Evan Perks" already perfectly unleashes aggressive emotion through the screaming of Josh Scogin, "DISAPPOINTED?!?! I KNOW YOU ARE!!!" Lots of chaos in just a minute and a half! "The Audience" is a highlight with ever-changing vocals. Injecting more surprises into the skin, "Calvin Makenzie" makes unexpected metal dives from something brutal to something old-school. The old ditty can cause an impact, but it's quite odd and doesn't work entirely. Nonetheless, that's a solid song, and the album's perfection isn't affected one bit.

Something worth singing along to is "The City", when it builds into a choir in the melodic midsection. Singing is so rare in this album, with potential to reach a stadium. Next song "Andy Sundwall" heads back into the usual metalcore with not as much as brutal energy as other songs. Scogin's vocals in "The Earth" are in constant movement as the band do what they want before a dark breakdown. A video was made for the diverse highlight "David De La Hoz". The song features a weird bridge from a hillbilly preacher, and it ends with a soft harp outro.

Strangely there's a more art-rock vibe added to "The Heavens", but it still becomes a sludgy math-metalcore highlight, simple yet admirable. As we reach the end, the chaotic "Robert Rios" charges. With a lengthy drum bridge midway through, "The King" is a 6-minute long epic, a bit like a more experimental heavy Underoath, whose producer Matt Goldman help recorded this album in a live analog technique.

Long Live has clear production as much it has raw energy in this fresh masterpiece. If you need a lot of metalcore adrenaline, one of Georgia's finest bands of the genre can give it to you. Long live their music!

Favorites: "The Audience", "The City", "David De La Hoz", "The Heavens", "The King"