With a remarkable, 37 year history, Flotsam and Jetsam never seem to have achieved the plaudits that they so richly deserve, although 2016’s excellent self-titled effort made an incredibly strong case for the band’s enduring legacy. Now back with their thirteenth album, the band are on the form of their lives and it is with considerable relief that we note that the title, the end of chaos, does not presage the end for the band, although it may well result in the end of your ear drums if approached without due caution – this is one mean beast of a record.
From the moment Prisoner of time detonates it’s clear that Flotsam and Jetsam are not resting upon their significant laurels. A blistering riff opens proceedings nicely and a full-throttle opener seems assured, only for the band to wrong-foot the listener, suddenly dropping down through the gears to allow a fantastic bass-led passage to lead smoothly into A.K’s gloriously theatrical vocals. Having gotten things off to a flying start, control significantly ups the ante, the drums delivered with mechanical precision, over which a series of blistering solos are unleashed. These would, in the normal ruin of things, tower over everything if it weren’t for A.K.s unfeasibly assured performance behind the mic. He’s never sounded better and his vocals consistently astound over the course of the record. The chrome-plated riff that heralds the arrival of Recover sees the band lay down a taut groove with overtones of Iron Maiden and early Queensryche. Progressive but without the capital p that so often threatens to mute the riffing, Flotsam and Jetsam, are on an almighty roll with this one. Odd title aside, prepare of chaos has the sort of blazing riff that is made for air-guitarists the world over, whilst A.K. continues to impress with his staunch performance. With a mosh-pit-killing chorus, this is thrash at its inventive, aggressive best and it doesn’t end here. Still maintaining a quality control of which most bands can only dream, slowly insane is an unstoppable rampage that only barely prepares the listener for the Priest-esque architects of hate a melodic monster that threatens to flatten everything in its path.
Gleaming thrash greets the listener on Demolition man, Michael Gilbert and Steve Conley laying down beautifully harmonised riffs over Ken Mary’s vibrant performance on the drums, his fills driving the pace and leading the listener nicely to a series of face-shredding solos. A stabbing, filtered guitar heralds the arrival of unwelcome surprise, but it’s Michael Spencer’s grueling bass that makes the track. Rumbling away in the abyss with malevolent intent, it provides the low end rumble necessary to anchor the wild-eyed riffing and the track as a whole proves to be an album highlight. It’s followed by the unhinged snake eye, the album’s fastest track which sounds like a thrash infused take on Di’Anno-era Maiden – punky, dizzyingly fast and a whole heap of fun. In contrast, survive is the sort of colossal heavy metal anthem that you can imagine comfortably filling arenas and, once again, A.K. delivers a performance that can best be described as god like. With the album rapidly running down, Flotsam and Jetsam show little sign of running out of steam, good or bad offering some of the record’s ,most sublime displays of dexterous musicianship. It leaves the aptly-titled the end to round things out on a massive high – all taut rhythms and nervy, snatched riffing. It marks a phenomenally satisfying conclusion to an album that does not once dip in quality across its hour-long run time.
Trying to find any element of the end of chaos that doesn’t rock you to the core is an immense challenge. The band have truly delivered a timeless masterclass in thrash and it oozes class over the twelve tracks on offer. With a production job from Jacob Hansen that threatens to strip the wallpaper, the end of chaos is pretty much heavy metal perfection. 10
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