Review by Greg on June 25, 2024.

Fourth album and fourth different line-up for Kobold, with yet another bassist change, and only one year after Technofascism we arrive to Chaos Head, the guys' latest album as of now. I don't even want to think about another preamble, and I'll just come out and say this is their current magnum opus, and the fact that the wait for it was so short baffles me, effectively rendering Elio Rigonat the kind of guy I'd trust to make literally anything (he also seems to have played drums here).

But let's not rush too much. Trying to start from the potential issues, for once, Rigonat's vocals have come a long way since the Death Parade days, but a newcomer might still find them strained and excessively shrill sometimes. The pair 'Fractal Minds'-'Liminal Space' could be considered ever so slightly behind the rest in terms of ambition, although less for their demerits and more for the incredible tracks that bookend them. If you really pay attention to it, all the refrains are based on the same formula of two or four repetitions of similar sentences, often containing the respective song title, but I'd actually give more importance to the umpteenth less serious cover song shoehorned into a serious album, as much as I'm trying to close my eyes and pretend it's a bonus track. Either they included it as a pact of friendship, or due to a lost bet, otherwise I can't really find a logical explanation. Although logic doesn't occupy a first-row seat in Kobold's music, truth be told.

As you might have guessed though, all this can't pry the overall rating away from absolute excellence. Chaos Head has that quality you only find in special albums: it gives you that wonderful sensation of feeling lost in a constant assault of riffs, to the point that your attention is totally magnetized, for fear of having to blame yourself should you miss anything fantastic across these 45 minutes. You don't need to hold your patience for too long, since after the vastly electronic intro, which is still an interesting addition, the title-track wastes no time to let you hear at what absurd level they're currently playing. There would be so much to say about its excellent main riff alone – an intricate riff that sounds like the most complicated sequence of notes to the untrained ear, but is also hummable non-stop for days (I can assure you this is first-hand experience). That's the mark of great music, folks. Its resemblance to a disassembled version of Fog of War's 'The Glow' might also have helped. Coupled with 'Medieval Cam-Whore Punk', which is the coolest title ever given to a song about Countess Bathory, gives you a pair of attacks to the jugular that are also instantly memorable, the latter standing out for its nice lead intro, which is a novelty on such riff-centric music, and Rigonat's clean vocals in the prechorus, that have finally improved enough to be considered convincing. I've seen some complaints about the sound, which is as far from the Citadela trademark as you can get without going into lo-fi territory, but I actually like it, not to mention that it's raw enough to cover up some of Elio's most ear-piercing moments, much like Technofascism before it. Putting the guitar tracks at the forefront is now a flaw? These guitar tracks?

Oh, but there's plenty of surprises the further you get. It's safe to say the band is now truly at their highest self-confidence, and it shows also in songs like 'Kali Yuga' or 'Celestial Gates', that don't sound grossly out of place like 'When The Eyes Turn Inwards' and 'I, Icarus' did on the debut, despite playing a similar game, instead forming a cohesive work of enormous quality. The former is indeed a devastating full-on blackened thrasher, mercifully obliterating any vague traces of uncertainty the previous 'Liminal Space' might have had, while the latter is yet another melodic number, but perhaps their best yet. I hesitate to call it a melodeath track, since I might be influenced by the intro reminding me of Arch Enemy's 'Burning Angel' every single time, but its instrumental coda also gives me flashbacks of "Being" and "Nothingness" (Hexen). I'm tempted to call 'Dead Flower Children' the true highlight, however – a weird crossroads between a verse that could fit in either of the two last Stone albums and a chuggy riff reminiscent of something like Rings Of Saturn alternating with it, a connection that could be reinforced by the beautiful spacey solo and isn't obviously meant as a bad thing, in this particular case. If the slow track is the real testing ground for any wannabe great thrash metal band, Kobold have passed the exam with flying colours. By now, I hope you've noticed all the bands I namedropped in this review aren't comparisons I make lightly, and that alone should tell you something.

I don't know what else I can say about Chaos Head, except that it's an incredible, outstanding statement on all fronts. I stumbled upon it regrettably late, but it retroactively collected a spot in my 2023 pantheon, arguably battling with Invicta's "Triumph And Torment" for the highest place. Not that I care about who wins – I'm just grateful albums like this exist. Top-tier stuff.

Rating: 9.2 out of 10