Indemon’s ‘Reclaiming Chaos’ Proves Thrash Metal’s Next Generation Has Arrived

This one dropped back in June, and while I posted it to my Threads the day I discovered it, it was only after a few additional listens that I felt it deserved a little extra attention — so here we are. Indemon released their debut album, Reclaiming Chaos on June 27 through Inverse Records. The Finnish thrashers have come to crush skulls with a brutal mix of galloping riffs, double bass that shakes the foundation of the earth and harsh vocals on par with thrash’s greatest leads.

My initial take on this album had it clocked as a death metal album, that couldn’t be further from the truth after a few additional plays over the past few weeks. While I can hear some death metal influences on a few of the tracks, this album is as thrash as you can get. So much so, that I’ve decided to remove that post from my socials so as not to confuse anyone – not sure, must have really put in the efforts at the gym that day and didn’t know what I was listening to.

Alright, with all of that nonsense out of the way let’s actually get into the album. When a track opens with the lead vocalist producing a nearly 10 second scream, you know you’re in for a wild ride. Joose Riihelä wastes no time presenting us with what we can expect over the nearly 32 minutes on the 8 brutal tracks that the band has pulled together. The vocals aren’t the only stand out performance on this opening track though. This track is nothing short of auditory destruction – from the shredding backing riffs and machine gun drumming to the ear-drum-scorching solo this track is one hell of a way to introduce their sound.

Over the next few tracks we’re taken through varying levels of speed and sound profiles. While there are no worship-worthy influences where you could say “that definitely sounds like…”, you can catch whispers of Pantera’s groove, Slayer’s aggression and Sodom’s brutality, but Indemon weaves these influences so seamlessly that they’ve created something entirely their own.

The production on the album stands out for me. While it’s clearly not a live album, live albums are getting better and better thanks to new recording techniques, this has a feel of being recorded in a live environment. That said, since the band has a single guitarist, it’s clear that some track stacking was required to build the sound – however, it’s done so well that there is no detriment to the sound of the album, it still feels like 4 guys grinding out their best work, and someone decided to record it. There’s a rawness to the sound while still having a clarity on every instrument, producing an album that sounds as crushing as the songwriting deserves.

While I enjoyed listening to every track on this beast, there are 3 stand out tracks for me. The opening track, the closing track and for some reason Abuse. Let’s start with the last one. I can’t fully put my finger on it, but I feel a little bit of a personal connection to this track. Abuse starts out with an absolute soul-destroying riff and a pounding drum line that feels like it’s going to crush the earth’s crust, but it’s not just the pacing of this track that pulled me in, it’s the lyrics. My interpretation, which I may be way off here, is that this is about ridding your life of someone that just isn’t good for you. “Blinding my eyes for your attention. I cannot see how violently I’ll be controlling you and the anger. I know your weakness, your excuse.” – I found myself hitting repeat more than a few times to listen to this one over and over each time I put the album on. As for the opening and closing tracks, they just have the aggression I love in a thrash song.

Regarding the closing track, also the title track – something you don’t see very often on albums in any genre, it’s like the band held on to their heavy artillery until the end. They have closed out an already amazing album with a track that matches the aggression and energy the album opened with. High-speed, adrenaline-fuelled rage that just makes you want to go back to the start and experience the entire album all over again.

One other honourable mention track I can’t get past is the instrumental track that comes right before the closing track, Ruoja. This one has me so intrigued. Whenever I see words or phrasing for track names I need to dig in. This one took some time to find but from what I was able to gather this is a Finnish word used to call someone a scoundrel or wretch or similar pejorative term. However, this is also the most calm and subdued track on the album – so I have to wonder was this just an exorcising of demons, reflection or a way to offer forgiveness to someone that fucked the band or the writer of this track over… possibly one of those band secrets we’ll never be privy to?

Overall this is an extremely well written, technically sound thrash album. Does it cross into new realms of the genre or give us any modern genre defining moments? No – but then not every band needs to be the next great thing and write albums that define a generation, sometimes we just want to remember why we love a genre of music and that my friends is what Indemon has produced here. A reason to put down the classic Thrash albums and realize that we have an entirely new generation of Thrash fans that are carrying the torch for the music we grew up with. The music that molded our youth and that can hopefully do the same for the Thrash fans of today.