Customer Reviews

Children of Chaos

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of the best hard rock cd's out there. I saw the band in Corpus Christi, soon after the cd was released; they were truly awesome in concert,so I bought the cd at the show. Every track is Kick Ass, from the beginning to end. It is a very hard hitting and unique first album that any band would be proud of. I was excited to see one of the songs is going to be on a SAW soundtrack. I hope the band puts out another cd soon. I hope number 2 will as great as the first.

Tampa-based modern rockers Soulidium hit the scene in 2007 with their debut album Children of Chaos. The band, which has enjoyed some success supporting Sevendust on tour as well as a spot on the Saw 4 soundtrack, plays, straddles the line between post-grunge mainstream rock and nu-metal, and follows (very, very closely) in the footsteps of bands like Hoobastank, Linkin Park, Hinder, et al. Whether the world really needed another one of these "Mountain Dew commercial" bands is debatable.

They aren't breaking any new ground, but you have to give Soulidium this much: Children of Chaos is one hard rocking album. It doesn't matter how jaded you are or how little you care about the American mainstream rock scene, when you hear a song like "Drama" or "Crucify" you have no choice but to crank it up and bang your head. Honestly, the whole album is pretty damned catchy, even if you have heard it all before. That's what is so frustrating about this album. As rocking and catchy as Children of Chaos may be, if you own even one album by any of the bands mentioned above then you've pretty much already heard it.

Hopefully Soulidium will use whatever success Children of Chaos brings their way to further develop their sound and make it more unique. That the band has potential is obvious. I'll be interested to see what they do with it.

Dear readers, let us be honest: from a music standpoint, they're not very original. Though hardly the Breaking Benjamin ripoff they've been accused of-for one thing, Soulidium's Michael McKnight doesn't sing in the same warbally key that Ben Burnley goes for.

That being said, once you get past McKnight's appearance, the songs are well-crafted, lyrical content is original and his fellow bandmates seem to know their instruments and play them decently. With the exception of "Easy Kind of Girl" and "About You"-a paean about a groupie and a slow song about death, I could imagine myself giving this to a first-time listener without shame.

I was recently at the Sevendust concert last week (they are stellar live as always) and Soulidium was opening up for them. It was the first time I heard of them and needless to say they put on a terrific show. Lots of energy, great drumming, bass lines were meaty, duel guitars were loud, and last but not least, singer/songwriter michael mcknight with his awesome range really got the crowd pumped. After the show I met the guys and they were so cool and down to earth. I bought a few copies of the album and I have not stopped listening to it since.

There are some great tracks on the album including the street-anthem "drama". Highlight tracks to definitely check out are as follows:

Trapped
The Light
Live Forever
About You
Crucify
Slowly We Die

Another nice thing is that their sound reminds me of Kidneythieves (a terrific band you should check out) A slight industrial/electronic rock sound which I love.

If you get a chance to see them live, don't hesitate, they may make a fan out of you as they did myself...

Soulidium is your typical hard rock band. There's not a lot of difference between them and, say, Breaking Benjamin when you think about it. Both sport a great vocalist and some good riffs (some of Soulidium's riffs do sound like Static-X throwaways though), about the only thing that separates the two is that Breaking Benjamin have the better lyrics.

Having said that, I'm fairly surprised Soulidium isn't, well, popular at all. They were recently featured on the latest Saw soundtrack so their stock could be on the rise though. As far as Children Of Chaos is concerned, it's just a great rock record. Some of the songs wear out their welcome pretty fast but for the most part if you're just looking for some no-brainer hard rock, look no further.

Trapped, I believe was the single they released for CoC, so it doesn't come as a surprise that it wasn't grasped more by the radio seeing as how he cusses unnecessarily through the song's entirety. Once you get past that, the vocals and music are pretty good and make for a rather enjoyable listen. The Light is far and away Soulidium's best track offered. With lyrics that are actually good and a stellar vocal performance it's hard to go wrong, but throw in a mosh-worthy beat in the bridge and you've got an automatic winner. Crucify and Big Time are great tracks as well. Even despite how unbelievabely cocky Big Time is, it's too catchy not to like. Slowly We Die is the final highlight and next to The Light, it's the best.

My favorite songs are The Light, Crucify, The Big Time, and Slowly We Die. Soulidium isn't breaking any new ground on Children of Chaos, that's clear, but they seem content with that and it works for them, so who am I to argue? It's clearly working for them as evidenced by this CD, so whatever. As a side-note, it's best not to see what the members look like before hearing this...it just might ruin any chance they had of winning you over.