Chron Goblin

Canada's heavy-riffin' four-piece Chron Goblin have announced their signing to the California-based label Ripple Music – home to the likes of Sweat Lodge, Mothership, Mos Generator and JPT Scare Band – along with details of their third, forthcoming album, Backwater.

Venturing to Portland to work with Adam Pike at Toadhouse Studios in February 2015, the band’s intention was to explore the heavy sonic principles of the Pacific Northwest and embrace Portland’s music scene. Under the tutelage of Pike, who recorded Red Fang’s debut album and tours with them as their front of house engineer, he served as an integral component in achieving the band’s aspirations in the studio and ensuring their exploits across the city were well advised.

Swagger and muscle, charm and wit, Chron Goblin pair melody with aggression and groove for a fresh interpretation of heavy. Following the success of 2013's sophomore album Life For The Living, and having toured the UK, USA and Canada, the band's third full-length album Backwater picks up where the former left off. Holy Grove vocalist, Andrea Vidal, features on the ethereal first half of "The Wailing Sound", a track offering contrasts to brain pummelling heavy rockers such as "Fuller", "Give Way", and the meandering complexities of "The Return".

Backwater will be released via Ripple Music worldwide on November 13th, but in the meantime, you can stream and share new track "Fuller" via the SoundCloud audio player below. - Brave Words

Riff-lovin' Calgary rockers Chron Goblin have just announced plans to release their latest LP Backwater later this fall, and to get the momentum rolling, they've offered up a new track called "Fuller."

Chunky guitars, wild riffs and pulverizing percussion abound on the new cut. Along with the rest of the record, it was recorded in Portland, OR, with Adam Pike at Toadhouse Studios back in February.

Backwater will land ashore on November 13 via Ripple Music, and marks the band's third full-length effort. - Exclaim!

Just the other day I was talking with some folks about Red Fang, and how their hilarious, ingenius, now-legendary video for “Prehistoric Dog” pretty much singlehandedly launched their career.
Chron Goblin’s new video for “Blood Flow” is very Red Fang-esque — it’s clever, it’s quirky, it’s entertaining, and it stars all the members of the band as actors — so we can only hope that it helps these Calgary rockers in the same way as it did for the former. They certainly deserve it: their tunes and tones are a bit more hard-rocking than the ‘Fang, although they’d be far from out of place on a tour together. Without ruining the fun of the video, it begins when one of the band members loses an eBay auction for a very special beer stein, and, well… you’ll have to watch what happens next.
Chron Goblin’s full-length album Life for the Living came out last year and is available for free stream and purchase at their Bandcamp page. - Metal Sucks

Many of the moves Chron Goblin make on their second self-released full-length, Life for the Living, will be familiar to heads who bore witness to the so-called “stoner rock boom” around 15 years ago, when in the wake of Kyuss and Fu Manchu and Monster Magnet there emerged a glut of riff-toting boozers most of whom have now either grown into something different or disbanded entirely. That is, there’s an unabashed sense of genre from the Calgary, Alberta, foursome — Josh Sandulak on vocals, Devin Purdy on guitar, Richard Hepp on bass and Brett Whittingham on drums — and songs like “Lonely Prey” and “Blood Flow” play directly to the ideals of thick, traditional grooves offered with a bolt of heavy rocking vitality, while variations on the theme arise on the twang-meets-noise harmonica-infused crunch and rush of “Big Baby” and the more metalized turns of “Anesthetize” (though there were any number of bands called hardcore in the ’90s riffing in essentially the same style). Purdy‘s guitar sets the tone almost exclusively, but each member leaves a stamp on the material, and where 2011’s charmingly-titled debut long-player, One Million from the Top, seemed largely unipolar in terms of the vocals, Sandulak has clearly put in work to bring more diversity to his approach this time around. One might say the same of the songwriting in general, and the material across the album’s 10-track/43-minute span are stronger for it — an almost entirely straightforward aesthetic leaving little room to squirm in terms of atmospherics or veering from their beer-drenched course. I admit I don’t know much about the heavy rock scene in Alberta — most of what one encounters from Western Canada comes from the other side of the mountains, in British Columbia — but it’s clear in listening to Life for the Living that Chron Goblin have done their homework as regards influences.

Perhaps the album’s greatest asset is the band’s obvious enthusiasm for what they’re doing. Cuts like “Control” and the earlier “Lonely Prey” are catchy and well composed, but not really bringing anything to the table stylistically that Roadsaw wasn’t already doing before the aforementioned “boom,” but it’s the upbeat push of “Blood Flow” that ultimately wins favor — well, that and the massive, irresistible groove Chron Goblin kick into at around the two-minute mark of that song — and across the board, the four-piece subvert sonic redundancy through fresh presentation. I’m not sure these songs would work if they were played slower, but even the title-track, which takes its time in developing and gives a blend of metal and heavy rock that’s surprising even after it immediately follows “Anesthetize,” is crisp and refuses to be stale. Effective choruses are scattered throughout, but Life for the Living has its standouts in the moments of stylistic flourish that seem to reach out from the central base of the band’s sound, popping up in one track, gone in the next, so that the earlier, sans-frills thrust of opening trio “Deserter” (their most singularly Kyuss-indebted moment here), “Dry Summer” and “Lonely Prey” sets an expectation for genre adherence that subsequently gets toyed with as “Big Baby”‘s bluesy shuffle takes hold. Later variety is added through the already noted shifts of “Anesthetize,” “Life for the Living” and “Control,” and the album rounds out with the slowed-down groove of “Any Day” — also the longest cut at 6:09 where the only other to reach past five minutes is side A finale “Give No More” — but essentially, Chron Goblin know what they want to do and how they want to do it. Their grasp on the tropes of their genre is firm and while they never go so far as to delve into familiar stonerly lyrical themes of space, weed, etc., and Purdy‘s guitar has more brash distortion than laid-back fuzz, it’s not a hard album for experienced listeners to approach. Life for the Living? Rock for rockers.

And while that might seem like a trivialization or at very least like I’m oversimplifying, I think there’s something to be said for the more than apt execution of genre that Chron Goblin have on offer. They’re not likely to be accused of reinventing the riff-led wheel, but whether it’s the maybe Devin Townsend reference in “Control” (“Oh but this feeling”), the quiet intro to “Give No More” — soon enough to explode into one of Life for the Living‘s most fervent thrusts — or the machine-gun thrash at the head of “Blood Flow,” the band showcase a definite sense of personality in the collection, as well as a penchant for structuring the album so as the maximize the flow from song to song. If that comes with the well-trod stops and starts of “Dry Summer” and the Orange Goblin-style drunkery of “Lonely Prey,” I’m not inclined to see that as a downside so much as an asset overall to a developing approach, since in kind with their high-energy delivery there’s a dedication to craft that results in the hooks around which the majority of these songs seem to whirl. They have a lot working in favor of their sound — they may have been DIY in the recording and release, but the production is professional-grade for sure — and seem to be coming from a place of genuine respect for stoner and heavy rock, so for fans of the style, Chron Goblin have immediate appeal in part because of their stylistic loyalty. I don’t know where their methods might take them their next time out, but the bones on Life for the Living are strong, and if the album is familiar, it’s familiar like a boot to the ass from an old friend. - The Obelisk

There is a resonating sense of honesty with Life For The Living. With their website citing a rather euphemistic tale of their formation, stating how they started in ‘the smoke-filled rooms of University,’ what is clear is that Chron Goblin are simply four like-minded guys who love to make music together. There’s nothing more to it; it just so happens that what they love doing is getting them somewhere.

It was in 2009 that their collective smoke first enveloped University digs, since then it is venues across their Canadian homeland and America with names as big as Orange Goblin, Vista Chino and the Devin Townsend Project that their smoke has filled – an aura which has helped expand on their fan base. With this, their second full length record, very little seems to have changed in the band’s aesthetic make-up; and that is what makes it so enjoyable. Their influences are worn on their sleeves, for all to see.

With opening salvo Deserter bringing forth trippy, delayed guitars and a slow, plodding rhythm, newcomers to this band could be forgiven this band were simply another psychedelic outfit. But when swinging guitars takeover, it’s clear that there are plenty of strings to the bands collective bow.

Across the record they adhere in letting these songs breathe with momentary pauses that break the tracks up. Brett Whittingham’s drumming is a constantly impressive seismic backdrop to the record that give the songs here a more vibrant life with technical flourishes and a notable ability of giving each track the feel it needs.

On Dry Summer for instance, a mid-paced rock song, centred on a grooving riff, it is Whittingham that gives the track its standout swaggering heartbeat.

Big Baby meanwhile is the love-child of a blues orientated Clutch rhythm, complete with bristling harmonica and the no-holds-barred chaos of Bon Scott era AC/DC, all the while having growling undertones of down-tuned Sabbath.

But the band keeps you guessing, remain unpredictable. Give No More for example lulls you into a relaxed, spaced-out mind set with its Planet Caravan-eqsue vibes, before unleashing a riff bordering on thrash and letting all hell break loose.

In essence, this is a hard rock band. Search deep into the core of what makes this band tick and you’ll find elements of everything from Free to Deep Purple. It is this bands unique delivery that gives their texture a more psychedelic, stoner-friendly finish which helps give it a more commercial appeal. It is then, no wonder that so many respected bands have took them under their wing. This is a band to keep your eyes firmly locked upon.

Words by : Phil Weller - The Sludgelord

As one of the latest activities by Metal Temple for the unsigned bands, I present you my next presentation, CHRON GOBLIN. These Canadian guys already released an album before and even some EPs, mixing up Stoner meets Beer and Party Metal but mainly Stoner, although there is much Punk in the midst, but in overall CHRON GOBLIN is a Stoner Metal band.

Jumping directly to the opening “Deserter”, heralding some psychedelic guitar sounds that threw me off track, yet these were subdued in favor of the band’s Stoner antics. The song is great yet Josh Sandulak’s screaming is a little too much for me. A bit of surprise came from “Dry Summer” with darkened guitar that reminded of KYUSS, yet again Sandulak screamos are way beyond enduring. Heading on to “Lonely Prey”, Sandulak vocals sounding much better, yet the thorn appeared to be probably the bad production. On the other hand, the guitaring efforts are hellish, or should I say Hell of beers and smoke.

Unlike “Dry Summer”, “Big Baby” was another neat surprise of a Southern Rock style track massively made with a banjo and great drumming sequences and here again Sandulak sounded much better. Don’t let the song fool you because after 1:57 it changes to a full blown Stoner masterpiece. Also don’t miss “Life For The Living”, a more Doom meets psychedelic and Stoner for a beer in the local pub, great mix of all styles. Talking about Doom led me to “Any Day”, a classic Doom track that I found to be very likeable, other than that there is “Give No More” that appeared as a Grunge ballad that changes to a fine Stoner hit, and I did find Sandulak’s vocal ability to sing these kinds of song very interesting.

So, how didn’t I hear about these guys in the first place? What the world came to if a band like this one slipped through the cracks and didn’t get to my table much earlier, great album, mediocre production but in overall an immaculate Stoner album that should be out there for all to listen. - Metal Temple

Summoned onto the stage by cheers and smoke, Chron Goblin started their set. This four-piece is a force to be reckoned with. Each song crescendoed into screaming fits, blasting straight out of once-slow jams. Chron Goblin is a great recipe for madness: a bunch of rock, a pinch of hardcore and one fat doobie. Vocalist Josh Sandulak ran from side to side possessed, eating his microphone and spewing out lyrics at Mach Ten. By this time, people were on the monitors head banging like their lives depended on it, on their knees begging for more and girls should have been dancing on the hoods of cars everywhere. Long live rock and roll!

Review and photos by Lori Meyers - Beatroute