The Chemical War isn’t a very big deal; it’s a relatively unknown newborn street rat in the shady back alley behind the three-floor hotel/motel that is the Saint Louis music scene. To be fair, this musical duo has never been seen performing in the flesh; it’s a bit bumptious of me to even suggest that The Chemical War is even worthy of your listenership, I digress…
The Chemical War released their first E.P. just last August, following up with a second E.P. this January. Theirs is a sound metallic and boulder-weight, rock-steady and stupifyingly loud. It’s grunge’s bastard daughter with daddy issues:
The former, Celestial Bonds, is a single of the saga trilogy “Celestial Bonds Broken”, in which notable characters from the series My Little Pony struggle with the fate of the Kingdom of Equestria in question. Mike Bange is the mind behind this eighteen-minute epic, inspired by his love for all things Pony. His contributions surpass writing and composing, as he dove headfirst into vocal, drum, guitar, and synth tracks for the project. According to Mike, the writing for Celestial Bonds actually began in 2012, though the majority of studio work spanned the summer of 2014.
The latter of the two releases, Ancient Specimens, weighs in at just over nineteen minutes, and features a markedly different approach to this band’s heavy sound; synthesizers have been significantly scaled back, the beats feel spontaneous, and focus has shifted from riffs and speed to melodies, harmonies, and a loose pocket of head-bobbing. The bulk of this release was recorded in the dead of winter, as the session ended just three days before it’s release on Monday, January 20th, in the wake of riots in Ferguson, MO and on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. A demo of “Martyrdom is Suicide” was quietly released along side Ancient Specimens – in memoria.
If you’re still reading, congratulations; you’ve arrived at the only spot on the net where the latest demo from The Chemical War can be heard! This one’s called “The War Came Swiftly”, and it’ll be featured on a full-length World War II tribute album to be released on September 1st, 2015. This date is intrinsically bound to the demo track, as it will be the 76th anniversary for the sacking of the free city of Danzig – the event that essentially began the war.
The Chemical War is based in Saint Louis, MO and can be heard @
“The War Came Swiftly” runs 3:20
