Chiodos, somehow, have become one of EVR’s biggest ever bands. Their last release, as chaotic and mad as it was, sold by the bucketload and was revered by many for it’s ingenuity and imagination. And I guess when you listen to so many bands, as I do, it is nice to come across a band who aren’t afraid to mix things up and break away from the norm. That said, I can’t say I ‘got’ ‘All’s Well That Ends Well’. While anyone can see their scope and vision is so much bigger than many of their peers, the complexities, time-changes and all-round bizarreness just didn’t quench my thirst for post-hardcore. I can see why people would like it, I just didn’t quite get it.
‘Bone Palace Ballet’ is equally as strange, but in a slightly more accessible manner. There’s a bit more structure to proceedings, so while the songs often go off violently into strange bits, they normally come back to some kind of normality. Craig Owens has a fantastic voice and, as on the first record, he uses it as an instrument rather than the focal point of the band. His energy rubs off on those around him as he wails and screams his way through the songs on this record. His range is pretty good, nailing every note he hits. And it’s the variation which helps make the band so interesting – if, like me, they’re not the most accessible band in the world, you still can’t help but appreciate how talented the band are anyway.
‘A Letter From Janelle’ is an incredible song. It’s a song a real band writes, one with specific parts for each instrument, topped off with some incredible vocal work. I guess Chiodos are a bit of a marmite band – you’ll love them or hate them. It’s difficult not to appreciate their outstanding talents, and while I don’t think I’ll overplay this record at all, I can definitely look at it and go, ‘yeah, these guys are goooood…’