Invisible Control - Created In Chaos
“Created In Chaos” is the debut full length from Brazilian prog death metal outfit Invisible Control. Recently active since 2020 with a few singles unleashed over the years, their sound can be compared to the likes or Arch Enemy or Once Human with stead mid paced growls, plenty of excellent guitar work, and some touches of progressive elements to mix things up so it doesn’t feel like a full on At the Gates rip off or too guitar focused in the solos like Arch Enemy tends to drift. The album opens with a wonderful start: very eastern touches in the male vocals and guitar tones to really draw listeners in. Of course this is a little bit of a false expectation as the album opens up later because there aren’t too many moments like this, but ‘Creation in Chaos’ serves as probably one of the best tracks on the albums. The song progresses into heavier territory; the keyboard and guitar melodies along with the snarled female vocals are definitely Arch Enemy-esque so those who have heard them over the last few albums (like “Will To Power”) will really dig this. Other tracks like ‘Killing Another One of Us’ is more guitar chug focused without the quiet moments and somewhat loses the prog edge that Invisible Controls started with, but while it does come off as more of a standard Arch Enemy sound there is a little more thrash thrown into with the guitar work, so again the band does their best to try to mix things up even though it might not quite be the progressive route (like Opeth progressive) that listeners might hunger for.
‘Purgatory’ and ‘Devourers’ mix are polar opposites, but delve both more towards Once Human territory as far as their sound. ‘Purgatory’ is heavy as can be while ‘Devourers’ is more mid paced, offers more acoustic guitar bits for a softer tone, and brings back more of those progressive elements while still remaining quite a bit more of a melodic death metal style. ‘Invisible to You’ is more guitar focused and slides back to that Arch Enemy pattern, though it sounds a little more bland than the other tracks just due to how riff focused it is versus the variety of guitar and drum work the other tracks bring, such as ‘Cold Blood’ which has some great thunderous tones that give the drums more life but still sounds heavy as hell. ‘Sons of the Damned’ has the same pitfall as ‘Invisible You;’ guitar focus is on point but without the soft breaks and mixing of the tones and trying to just be as fast and heavy as possible it just narrows things down to the guitars and vocals without the listener really being able to appreciate more, such as what ‘Creation in Chaos’ delivered.
The closing ‘Cursed Be’ amps things up a bit on all levels. For one, the bass gets its rumbling quake of a tone to break through the guitar wall of sound. Clean female spoken words are added into the mix. The guitars aim for a more doom laden tone versus just melo death/ prog death and overall there just a feeling of a more well rounded track. Guitar solos are still abundant and yes this one does scream Arch Enemy all over, but it takes the best elements of what the veteran band has done and lets Invisible Control put their own spin on it, owning their sound. The progressive moments are jazzy, dark, and almost like Rivers of Nihil (without the saxophone). If Invisible Control had done more stuff like this where they mixed in enough moments to make a track such a head banger while introspective and thoughtful on the sound, then this album might have been a breakthrough on all levels. Still, “Created In Chaos” is dramatic, heavy, beautiful, and well worth a listen for anyone who enjoys progressive death metal or melo death metal that is female fronted or sheds the use of abundant use of keyboards or the ‘harsh verse, clean chorus’ style for something that is brutal on all levels but harmonious as well and worth a listen all the way through.
4 / 5 STARS
Apr 25, 2022
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