Total Chaos – Freedom Kills

Punk was originally meant to shock and scare the average, every-day person. It was a way to fight the dullness of what was expected, working five days a week, nine to five in a job you hate to become a productive member of society. But with unemployment rates becoming more rampant, disillusion started spreading throughout the youth culture and they needed a break, a movement to change that. The movement was punk, and they used everything they could to create shock value. Now that shock value has pretty much been watered down and vanished from the punk rock definition, but some bands are still doing it. With over half a dozen releases and more than a decade in existence, Total Chaos still knows the importance of shocking their viewer, one look at the artwork and booklet for Freedom Kills and you’ll see that. Sadly, the music no longer carries that same shock value it did oh so many years ago.

Total Chaos play fast, speedy, snotty street-punk – a nice mix between other political street punk acts like The Casualties and The Unseen. It’s fast, distorted, constant, and heavy. The biggest difference would be in the vocal delivery, where Jorge Casualty is almost indecipherable, Rob Chaos still has a venomous spit in him, but it seems to be a bit more controllable and decipherable. They also seem to be more open to experimentation, with a few breakdowns and crazy guitar solos littered throughout songs like Paix America. Actually, the guitar riffs are definitely at the forefront of almost every single song on Freedom Kills, with a high pitch melody played whenever there’s a gap in the vocals which really helps unite the songs more. The only thing that would could take the songs a step forward and make them a bit more of a whole would be the use of more gang vocals, which is something that Total Chaos lacks at time. They do it nicely on Twisted Sister‘s cover of We’re Not Gonna Take It and during the chorus for songs likeAnother Boot Party and One Way System Lies, but other times, you just feel the need for that little extra bit of unity to pull you into the album.

The album is fast, the artwork is great, and the message is clear. It’s snotty, fast, and in your face. It brings you back to the old times, where punk was shocking and used to create a movement. Even thoughTotal Chaos isn’t the most shocking band anymore – because really, everything’s been done now – it’s far from being anything radio-friendly either. It’s a solid output, that could be helped with a few gang vocals, but other than that, street-punk fans will love it.