Sound Advice: CD Reviews - Chalice (Chronicles of Dysphoria)

CD Review:
After signing with the independent label Modern Invasion, Chalice reworked their debut promotional album Chronicles of Dysphoria to create a masterpiece. This would be considered Chalice's first official release. They trimmed the song list by one, excluding "Ashen."

Chalice formed in 1997 when Adrian (drums) answered Shiralee's (vocals, keyboards, and composer) ad in the local paper. They released their self-titled demo EP (containing 3 tracks) in '97, and then in the next year, released the promotional album Chronicles of Dysphoria. Modern Invasion took notice and signed them and by 2000 Chronicles of Dysphoria was reworked and re-released. By this time, Justin Hardwig (guitar) had joined and his guitar is heard on this album. The band hired a session violinist for some of the tracks which adds a "classical" touch to the sound of the album.

The band can be best described as a doom metal band. Shiralee does most of the writing and her lyrics are typically dark. Her voice is extremely good and gives a different atmosphere to this genre of music than when a male sings. She will usually start of in a slow lower range voice and as the song progresses so does the pitch of her voice until she hits her higher range. When this is done it brings shivers up your spine.

The great thing about this album is the influence that classical music has on it. With the addition of the violin, the sound varies from an orchestral sound to a more metal sound when the guitars kick in.

Highlights include "Solitary Waves" a song that shows off Shiralee's poetics. The songs starts off slow and slowly gains force until it hit a crescendo in the final seconds of the song. "The Amber Twilight" has a similar build up and speaks of the ache a seriously depressed person feels every waking moment.

I was put on to this band by a friend from Australia (where the band is from) and, although it was quite difficult to find this CD, I was glad when I finally did find it. The album is extremely well put together and the songs are longer and more developed than a lot of the music out there today.

Scott D. Brown