Cellhavoc - Only Filth Remains

Cellhavoc is a two man band from Finland consisting of Miko on music and concepts, and Pasi on vocals and lyrics. Back in 2014, they made their self-released debut titled "Consumed By Eternal Darkness". Their harsh EBM/industrial metal crossover eventually led them to get noticed by Xperiment XIII. Now signed to the independent label, Cellhavoc is bringing forth a new beast titled "Only Filth Remains". What's inside is more than just music, but a story following a soldier in a futuristic, dystopian society. This soldier, who works for a government run by the wealthy, is tasked with keeping the regions of the rich free of the poor, or Filth. As he goes on through his journey, his morals are put to the test, and he eventually pulls back and fights against the same government that hired him. 

The story automatically connects itself with the real world, just in a much more advanced, hyper technology vision. Ripe for the pickings, it really is up to the listener to decide how powerful the message is brought out. Considering the music is loud and in your face with screams a plenty, I think what Cellhavoc is trying to say through their woven story is quite clear; there are problems that need to be faced rather than turning a blind eye to them. 

'Mechanical Eden' begins off the album, which has a cinematic build up led into a fiery roast of pounding guitar work and the like. This isn't the standard, shit cyber metal that so many other bands crank out that sounds like absolute garbage sludge. The music poured out from Cellhavoc is well produced and orchestrated. Audiocentesis comes along for the ride on 'We Are', offering their vocal talents in the thrash metal antics of the quick paced track. 

'Destroy Everything' followed the formula already presented, though it did play with electronics a little more. While the quality did not dip down, the similarity left me wanting more. The next song 'Rain' featured Maija Rautasuo. I did try and find out more about this singer by looking them up online, but I could not find anything but this exact song anywhere. Despite that, Maija provided very lovely chords to the track, playing adjacent to rougher beats. I found this track to be absolutely magical. 

'Mind Control' kicked in another badass track, and 'Awakening' shared more in common with harder electronics than metal. Continuing on with their thundering guitar shredding, Cellhavoc teamed up with Exemia on 'Psychosis'. Like the other collaborations, it brought forth new energy and excitement. 

I don't know why, but the piano work in 'Sever the Flesh' reminded me of a lot of John Carpenter's work. It was like Carpenter all of a sudden got the urge to create a metal band and fuse it with the greatest of his soundtracks, and wrote a song for it. Needless to say, 'Sever the Flesh' became an absolute favorite of mine. And, lastly, the title track of the album hit. The song starts off soft, hits us in the face with more hard industrial metal, and then ends off soft again. Thus concludes Cellhavoc's album. 

Now, coming off the album, I find these gentleman to be extremely talented. They have pretty decent production and they're able to pull off industrial metal in a well formed manner. The story is appeasing and interesting, and fits in with the whole genre. Plus, the guest talent they brought along are awesome. The only real thing Cellhavoc needs to work on is making sure that each and every single one of their songs are different enough from one another to warrant a new track. Other than that, however, Cellhavoc is golden. 

"Only Filth Remains" is a darkened look into politics of the modern day told in a futuristic story set by pounding guitar rhythms and thundering drum lines. 
Oct 03 2015