Chugger - Human Plague

Published March 23 2015

*=Staff's pick	The Grid Virus* Rust Never Alone Feed The Fire Ignorance Divine Five Feet Down Cut Out From Hell* The Pendulum Swing Endgame* Human Plague*

Genre	Heavy Metal	David Dahl	Vocals
Tracks	11	Robert Bjärmyr	Guitar
Running time	52 Min.	Fredrik Carlstedt	Guitar
Label	Rambo Music	Henrik Östlund	Bass
Release	April 01, 2015	David Pergament	Drums
Country	Sweden	-	Keyboard
Producer	Daniel Antonsson
Similar artists	---

Full length debuting Swedish outfit Chugger plays a rugged and pumping type of heavy metal. Some people would certainly label the band's massive, crushing and ceaseless struggle as a melodic version of death metal though. I would however say that with a sort of semi-growling feature by vocalist David Dahl, the appearance of the band's music and overall performance might just come out a little deceiving initially, meaning that the outcome may appear a bit more brutal and fierce than what it in reality really is.

I think that the actual music proves to be pretty much unfaltering and the record is generally intense, yet without taking things to the extreme. These metallers try to build hooks through guitar harmonies on top of the energetic and propulsive appearance and I believe that they are reasonably successful on this matter. This record isn't a specifically speedy effort and I think that the result shows more a side of a totally massive metal groove, which nevertheless comes out surrounded by a certain amount of anger and force.

On the downside, I have a little problem with the tone of the vocalist's voice, as it seems rather strained and confined. It isn't particularly varied and it's indeed rather monotonous and fixed between a few utterances. It becomes a disadvantage as far as I'm concerned and I think of what this adamant form of metal would have come out like with a different type of vocal performance. In the end, Human Plague is a satisfactory effort, but it doesn't really have the capacity to run me over like a freight train.

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
6	5	6	4	6

Summary
5 chalices of 10 - Tobbe