Johannesburg-based Industrialised Metal Machine Chaos Doctrine has been relatively quiet since their October 2021 double release of a cover of Midnight Oil’s Beds are Burning and the “MMXXI Redux” of their first ever single, Cult. But that is about to change, as the band is dropping their new single and visualiser video for ‘Lifting The Veil’
Band guitarist, engineer and producer Alec Surridge explains: “While our last album is still very new, and we may still release an official single or two from there, we wanted to put something brand new out to give our fans a feel for what we have been up to for the last six months or so. We had great fun with our last two covers [Beds are Burning and, before that, Depeche Mode’s Enjoy the Silence], but they are not at all indicative of where we are going creatively – and this single will show you just what I mean with that!”.
So, what does Alec mean with this? While the band’s last two covers were unique interpretations of songs not from metal stable, you should be reminded that Chaos Doctrine has quite recently given us shredders like Father Grigori and Black Friday Bedlam (featuring Swedish Metal giant Jörgen Sandström). The new single is said to pick up from here – it is called ‘Lifting the Veil’, a 200bpm thrasher promising to not only remind us that Chaos Doctrine is first and foremost about metal, but also to show us a more progressed, even heavier side of the band. The track brings the signature dark industrial edge blended with serious guitar riffs we have come to expect, together with a vocal barrage that will smash you in the face like a hammer.
Guitarist Phil Carstens gives us some background: “Dr D and I penned the riffs and basic song structure for this track at the very end of 2021. I wanted to do something that is heavy and fast as hell, reminiscent of the death metal bands I grew up with. Alec brought his usual riff insanity to that and by the time D was done with the industrial elements and vocals, we knew that even though it is the last track we wrote for the new album, we wanted it to be the first single”.