Muen Magazine

The Chemical Distance

The Pain & The Progress

Bluntface Records

This New Hampshire 3 piece cite bands such as Depeche Mode, The Prodigy, Jurassic 5 and NIN as their major influences.  Upon listening though, it sounded more like a mash up of Faith No More, Mindless Self Indulgence and Mr. Bungle.  One track however (The Protector) did sound like something that could be found on the timeless DM album “Ultra”.

TCD are made up of guitar, bass, synth, programming and electronics.  They hate drummers and probably with good reason.  Most drummers are flakes, crybabies and alcoholics so I can see the point in trying to mitigate as much inner band turmoil as possible.   This doesn’t make for a bad decision, but the programmed beats don’t do much in the way of giving the material much spine.  Usually it’s imperative that when your music doesn’t have an actual basher, you make sure to beef up that which is synthetically taking his place.

The vocals are smooth and melodic and when they fall into a rap scheme they flow effortlessly with clever lines.  However there are some quiet times throughout the CD The Pain & The Progress that would benefit from a more quiet and airy approach as opposed to the same vocal style which is a constant through out the CD.

The guitar tones are just downright awful and the overall production on this CD is lackluster which I’m sure robs the band of some of the feeling and intensity they may exhibit at their live shows.  Though the band D.A.R.E. to keep kids of drums, they do have a live percussionist behind the kit on the track The Golden Child which is the only song on the entire CD that has any  structure or cohesiveness.  Everything else for the most part is done in an anti-plot approach which can be cool, but can also loose the listener quickly.

The Chemical Distance are ambitious in their attempt to meld a vast array of sounds and moods together in an attempt to create something truly original.  Sometimes it works and other times, not so much.  More than likely with time they’ll be able to hone their skills and have complete control over every aspect they employ instead of only partly having command and partly losing the grip and letting things aimlessly fly about.

STUKE