Chugun are soon to release their second album Rogue Planet, recorded, mixed and mastered at AG Studio, Tel Aviv.
It’s been 5 years since the band’s debut release Virus and now the second album comes out in the middle of a global pandemic. Immediately it’s evident that this second offering from the band whose name means “cast iron” in Russian is a lot more solid and sophisticated.
Opener “Simulacra” has a real Lamb of God groove to it whilst “Predator-Prey” sees vocals from both Jani and Sizov, a combination that works well for this thrash/death output.
Blasting a hole into dead space is probably the fiercest track of the entire album, “Happiness”. The guitar groove sound is back for “Idiots” which blends really well into title track “Rogue Planet”, itself having a real Angela Gossow sound to it. The accompanying video’s cinematography is also in keeping with the Arch Enemy vibe and theme of the album.
My favourite track on the album, “Extinction Cycle”, is up next. It has a few quick pace changes to begin with, before the majority of the track itself comes into its own, and the main riff of this track is fantastic. A barred spiral galaxy 2.537 million light-years away from my desk as I write this review is the inspiration for the penultimate track “Andromeda”. Lastly, a fundamental mechanism for structure formation in the universe (“Gravitational Collapse”) completes the album with a great spoken word part at the end.
Fast, aggressive and unrelenting.
Rogue Planet will be released June 30th
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