Chainfist – Black Out Sunday

Today I fired up the iPhone, looked at the schedule, and queued up Chainfist. I popped in my earphones and started playing their debut album, “Black Out Sunday”, as I opened up their bio sheet. With a name like Chainfist I was expecting something akin to melodic death metal, so I was pleasantly surprised by the groove metal produced by this quality Danish band.

I expected to hear harsh vocals and instead got the surprisingly clean and melodic vocals of Jackie Petersen. I never would have guessed it looking at the pictures, but dude has got a pretty good voice. I’m enjoying the music on the album as well. It’s not as heavy as I expected either. Their bio lists them as groove metal, but also says they are part metal and part rock. The cleaner more melodic parts do speak of a rock element, but if forced to categorize this album as one or the other I would come down on the side of metal. (Always choose metal lol.)

There is a little quote in the bio sheet that says “Metal that makes the world go round, your neck break and your body bounce.” I hope not to break my neck while listening to this album, but I get what they are saying. If no one else was around and I was listening to this album I could totally crank up the speakers and give myself some whiplash (acting like a maniac.)

“Black Out Sunday” sounds current but has a late 80s vibe that takes me back to the good old days of metal. This could be due in part to the fact that there aren’t many clean male vocals outside of power /progressive metal these days, so my best frame of reference is the music I listened to in the 80s and early 90s. I’d love to hear more music along these lines.

So here’s what I think of Chainfist: I really dig this album. A lot. I think you should give them a chance and check them out online. Give them a listen; see if you agree with me (I suppose it is ok if you don’t) and if you like them support them and pick up the album. Off you go then.