Sure, we talk a lot on here about how good New England’s metal and hardcore scene is, but let’s not forget that North Carolina has really been stepping up the quality of its bands over the past several years. Though black metal certainly isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when you picture the crop of bands that come out of this area, Raleigh’s Chateau are clearly onto something special here. Though they only have a demo and one EP to their name as of right now, they’re about to release Moons Over the Slaughter, an impressive four-song bludgeoning that’s as evil as it is entertaining.
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Chateau’s core sound is undeniably rooted in the sinister black metal aesthetic of bands like Dissection and Immortal, but the band’s strong thrash metal influences and occasional forays into beer-chugging hard rock riffs keep things interesting throughout the entirety of this release. Everything is delivered in an extremely proficient and crystal-clear fashion, but it’s never too over the top or sounds like the band couldn’t be pumping out these tracks in a dingy and crusty basement somewhere. There’s no room for heavy orchestration or grandiose theatrics. Chateau are simply out for blood, and blood they get.
“We really feel that Moons Over the Slaughter possesses everything that we wanted to accomplish following our first release, Amissus. Influenced by bands like Death and Dissection, we set out wanting faster, more aggressive tracks. There’s lots of blackened-thrash elements in songs like ‘Blasphemer’s Purpose’ and ‘Patricide,’ and a healthy amount of evil, mid-paced black metal on the track ‘In the Master’s Fire.’ Moons Over the Slaughter definitely gets our point across,” says Joe Whitley, one of the guitarists of Chateau.
Though you may have to wait just a little bit longer for the whole thing, make sure to jump on over to their Bandcamp page as soon as possible to check out “Blasphemer’s Purpose,” which is probably the strongest track on the EP. It contains every single facet of the band’s sound in just over four minutes, packing in plenty of surprises, the band’s best lead work to date, and more than enough moments to throw up your devil horns to. Seriously, don’t sleep on Chateau. They’re quickly becoming one of the more impressive extreme metal bands to pop up in the Southeast in quite some time.