Album review: Chevelle – Bright As Blasphemy

For a band that can’t quite seem to connect the dots, Chevelle are a notably big deal. The American duo, comprising brothers Pete and Sam Loeffler, have just embarked on an epic U.S. tour with Asking Alexandria. And yes, Asking Alexandria are the support. Chevelle’s taut alternative rock clearly sniffs at the altar of Tool, and maybe the Loefflers’ easier-to-hold distillation of the elder band’s convolutions are what has sustained their career over the porn.

Whatever the reality, Bright As Blasphemy continues to create promising soundscapes without doing a whole lot with them. Rabbit Hole (Cowards, Pt 1) is a microcosm of the entire album. It has a sense of managed restraint that makes you think it’s going somewhere, that it might even explode. In a short, surging instrumental section it does just that, but then quickly thinks again and returns to base camp. After that, Jim Jones (Cowards, Pt 2) kicks off with a big and typically deceptive riff, before continuing the march in circles.

There’s poise here, real attack, but it’s as if Chevelle can’t work out how to make their weapons fire, or to put it more bluntly, figure out a tune. Hallucinations is another song that has atmosphere, chills even, but can’t bring its point home. The aptly tense AI Phobias then aims a spotlight at perhaps the most ominous lifestyle issue of our times. Thematically, the album’s interesting, drawing attention to superficially innocent things that might endanger if let off the leash. ‘When the leaders don’t drink from it first, the brainwashed have lost,’ seethes frontman Pete in Jim Jones.

If they could engrave this subject matter onto something big enough for people to truly grab hold of, Chevelle would be sorted. As it stands, the duo’s music has sizable jaws but needs way sharper teeth.

Verdict: 2/5

For fans of: A Perfect Circle, Muse, Deftones

Bright As Blasphemy is released on August 15 via Alchemy