Review: Chrome Waves ‘Lost Horizon – Live 1/5/2024’

Chrome Waves, who have been pretty prolific over the past five or so years, deliver their first ever live album, recorded at the long-running Syracuse, New York venue Lost Horizon on 5th January 2024 when the band were embarking on a short Northeastern tour. The rationale for this is fairly simple as according to guitarist Jeff Wilson ‘I’ve been a fan of live albums since I was a kid, from the raw punk attitude of Nirvana’s early bootlegs to the enchanting atmosphere of Emperor’s Emperial Live Ceremony’.

The lineup at said show includes founding member Jeff Wilson (Deeper Graves/Contrition) on guitar, Zion Meagher (Anti-Human Thesis) on bass, James Benson (Amiensus/Comatose) guitar/vocals and Garry Naples (Without Waves/Novembers Doom/Contrition) on drums. The record spans the group’s five albums including a cut from The Cold Light Of Despair compilation.

When Night Falls represented a bit of a departure for the band at the time, the furious black metal that usually opened their albums being bypassed for something more textured and nuanced. Live it feels a little grittier, darker and not quite as polished as the version that exists on 2021’s The Rain Will Cleanse. This reminds me of what the late, great Freddie Mercury said about playing live, that it’s pointless performing songs exactly as they are on the record, you may as well stay at home and listen to the album if that’s what you want to hear. It seems like Jeff and co have heeded this advice and delivered, in spades.

New Skin sees the band downgrading the track’s ride influences and muddying the waters a bit. The sound here instead feels more expansive and less introverted, bringing in a massive space rock element ala Failure and Hum to proceedings. The original was excellent, this is sublime. Under The Weight Of A Billion Souls doesn’t stray too far from what’s heard on Earth Will Shed Its Skin, retaining, as it does, the alternating use of harsh and clean vocals as well as strong melodies. Indeed, the ‘enchanting atmosphere of Emperor’s Emperial Live Ceremony’ that was mentioned earlier in the review makes itself known.

The original was excellent, this is sublime…

Slowdive is flavour of the month presently (deservedly so), so it makes perfect sense that the band’s cover of When The Sun Hits is featured here. This time round however Chrome Waves have seemingly updated their interpretation of the classic by toning down the black metal shrieks and overall harshness for something altogether more melancholic and doomy. Pretty awesome and a hell of a way to pay tribute to the shoegaze legends.

Wind Blown, the second track featured from The Rain Will Cleanse, would have registered as something of a shock for long-time fans who may have been more accustomed to Wilson‘s rawer earlier work with Wolvhammer and Chrome Waves‘ early releases. The vocals are about as far from anything related to extreme/black metal as you can get and seem to have more in common with long forgotten alt-rockers Līve. Despite this there’s a sincerity and passion that cannot be denied.

Coincidentally speaking of old-school Chrome Waves, Past The Lights from the band’s 2019 full-length debut A Grief Observed (the only album of theirs I didn’t review) marks the final track. The post-metal and pagan feel of the track helps bring the record to a joyfully nostalgic conclusion.

I can be a little indifferent to live albums, often I equate them to a glorified greatest hits set. However, Chrome Waves both in their song selections and performances show that this doesn’t have to be the case; outstanding as per usual.

Label: Disorder Recordings
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram

Scribed by: Reza Mills