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Better to burn out than to fade away

Light This CIty - Stormchaser
Alternative Press - Editorial Intern on 6/1/09 @ 2:46 PM - altpress.com

[4/5]
Laura Nichol shrieks about "something circling overhead" during Stormchaser's opening title track; given that Light This City have decided to disband, those spiraling creatures may have been vultures. If so, the Bay Area-based group left the scavengers plenty of meat: Guitarists Brian Forbes and Ryan Hansen combine on harmonic solos and whirling-blade riffs that churn behind Nichol's banshee wail. Though her eloquent lyrics reveal occasional vulnerability, she never softens her delivery. Some groups use tuneful choruses as the soggy mortar between brick-heavy breakdowns, whereas Nichol's emotional devastation carves subtle cracks in the solid concrete backdrops. Nichol also covers gnarlier topics such as interplanetary turmoil (two tracks draw inspiration from Ray Bradbury) and serial-killer scientists ("The Collector," a two-part thrash procession). Unrelentingly savage yet satisfyingly versatile, Stormchaser stands as metal's strongest self-penned epitaph since Carcass' Swansong. (PROSTHETIC; prostheticrecords.com) Andrew Miller

Official Website: http://www.myspace.com/lightthiscity



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