Album Review: Cedron - 'Chased By Shades'

Sweden's Cedron are following up their debut EP with a hard hitting full-length that is bound to raise this group's profile significantly. The reason why 'Chased By Shades' will do this can be explained quite simply with the record's second track, 'Built Of Roaches', a song that combines the aggression and pace of hardcore, the guitar tones and styles of post-rock and an overall infectious energy.

There are straight up hardcore moments like 'Lost Woods' that stick pretty close to the rules of the genre but there is a separation in the sound that clears and defines what each instrument is doing, giving space but still being cohesive and heavy.

The group include moments of deviation, such as the mellow and haunting introduction to 'Sovstad', which features a young girl doing her best to creep you out. The tortured sounds that follow lend themselves to the overall lyrical themes of the record, which are pretty desolate. Cedron do not view the world as a very positive place, speaking mainly of the corrupt workings of society and within themselves as well.

'Pavement Cemetery' is another moment of deviation, which is a true highlight, channeling a sound similar to the likes of Defeater. The group tone down the distortion and use delayed guitar riffs to create an atmospheric feel with rolling drums and gritty, near spoken word vocals.

Being the lucky Australians that we are, we score a couple of bonus tracks in the form of the brutal haze of punk rock that is 'Rumours' and the building, swirling poetry of 'Goodnight Luna', without which the record would seem a little too short. So sucked in, rest of the world.

Cedron have offered up some decent down-the-line hardcore on their debut but with enough points of difference and genre change additions thrown in to keep things interesting. 'Chased By Shades' is like a handshake with a strong grip as the band introduce themselves to the world.

1. Winter

2. Built Of Roaches

3. Lost Woods

4. Witnessed

5. In Vow

6. Sovstad

7. Phoenix

8. Bound To Fall

9. Pavement Cemetery

10. Rumours

11. Goodnight Luna