After hearing Chain's debut album "Reconstruct" earlier this year, I knew their upcoming album will please me. Chain.exe is the second Chain album, and it proves to surpass my expectations. Once again Henning Pauly has succeeded in composing quite an enjoyable album. By the way, there's a limited edition of Chain.exe available as well (it contains nearly 4 hours of behind the scenes material. For example, the "making of chain.exe", a video of Eama Hut, interviews and other stuff).

The music hasn't changed a lot from the before. The music is still quite diverse (to some extent), and songs are usually based on driving rhythms with heavy guitars, strong vocal lines and harmonies, varying themes and somewhat complex arrangements... For example, the first song "Cities" (38 minutes long) has quite a lot of different sections... Everything from metal to a cappella (vocals only) is covered on that song. There's also a Saga cover on this album (Hot to Cold), and it actually features Saga's vocalist Michael Sadler.

Production on Chain.exe is first-class (thanks to Henning Pauly). Henning Pauly has taken care of it all (whether it's mixing or mastering, he's done it successfully). The recordings are clean without lacking atmosphere (so there's not much to complain).

Fans of the Chain's debut album Reconstruct will definitely find this album good, but also other progmetal fans might like it. As Chain.exe is available at Mindawn (you can listen to it for free 3 times), I advise you to check it out there and form your own opinion. For more information about Mindawn, check the news section of RockReviews.

Visit Artist's Website


- MAGE (27.11.2004)

« back

LINE-UP:
Pauly, Henning: Guitars, Warr Guitar, Banjo, Additional Keyboards, Bass and Programming Cash, Matt: Vocals Kernbach, Stephan: Keyboards Becker, Christian: Bass Marvin, Eddie: Drums Guests: Sadler, Michael: Special Guest Vocals on Cities and Hot to Cold Keneally, Mike: Special Guest Vocals and Guitar Solo on Last Chance to See Trevithick, Victoria: Special Guest Vocals on Last Chance to See Ashworth, Jody: Additional Guest Vocals on Cities Haddi, Maya: Additional Guest Vocals on Cities, Special Guest Vocals on Hot to Cold Heppenstall, Edward: Additional Guest Vocals on Cities Andrews, Sean: Stunt Bass on Eama Hut Katsikas, Steve: Saxophone Solo on Cities Greck and Jesse: Programmed Choir on "Eama Hut"
Producer:	Pauly, Henning
Mixing by:	Pauly, Henning
Mastering by:	Pauly, Henning

	TRACKLIST:
	01. Cities 1 02. Cities 2 03. Cities 3 04. Cities 4 05. Cities 5 06. Cities 6 07. Cities 7 08. She Looks Like You 09. Eama Hut 10. Never Leave the Past Behind 11. Hot to Cold 12. Last Chance to See