THE CHEMICAL CHAOS

It's a good album. There are a lot of great melodies, good parts of guitar ("All minds in one"), keyboards ("Moving Target") and bass guitar ("Walk into nowhere")... All songs are on the same technical and atmosphere level, exept (for me) "A world without me" which is rather a poor rock power-ballad... Hope, to hear something new and more experimental on next album... But I keep my fingers crossed for this band!

This is my first album with this Germany band that was founded in 1991 by Volker Walsemann (vocals & guitars), Marco Ahrens (guitars), Christian Scheele (bass), Marcello Maniscalco (keyboards) and Andreas Tegeler (drums). This album is their fifth with line-up change from first. Marcello Maniscalco on the keyboards and bass player Christian Scheele left the band for other projects.

Even though the band has been classified under progressive metal box, their music is not exactly as heavy as Dream Theater or Symphony X. It's probably closer to Pain of Salvation or Fates Warning, IMHO. I may be wrong.

"Walk into nowhere" starts with an ambient sound of keyboard / organ with some guitar fills. When the music enters, the electric guitar solo brings to riffs with some guitar solo that welcomes the main rhythm to accompany vocal. The bass guitar solo during transition reminds me to Aghora (see my review in this site as well) where it is played in a style of jazz rock fusion music - sort of Stanley Clarke. The guitar solo during interlude is nice. This track has a good structure with unpredictable rhythm / melody and frequent tempo changes..

"Every kind of life" intro has a solo drum augmented with dynamic bass guitar work and bring the music into a faster tempo then slow down when guitar solo enters. It turns back to faster tempo in continuous style and let the lead voice in. This track was composed more straight forward with minimum variation of melody and tempo changes. But, it's an enjoyable track - especially the bass guitar and guitar work.

"All minds in one" intro reminds me of Pain of Salvation music with ambient and psychedelic style. It turns into faster tempo and slows down a bit when vocal enters. This tune is more melodic compared to previous tracks. The keyboard is played in symphonic style with some solo during transition. The interlude part with keyboard solo accompanied by dazzling bass is nice even though at first sounds so empty (musically). I would classify this track as a symphonic prog met. Excellent.

"A world without me" is a moderate/slow tempo at the opening and it flows with soft guitar riffs in continuous form. Again, it's like Pain of Salvation music. The wonderful part of this track is the inclusion of acoustic guitar fills in the middle of the track. The electric guitar solo that brings vocal line returns back to music or during voice line is really stunning.

The sixth track "Terminal trip" is a symphonic prog met instrumental piece that demonstrates keyboard, guitar and vibes in a good composition. The guitar solo at approx min 3:44 is simple and enjoyable. The use of vibe sound has enriched the track. "Pact with the past" is an ambient track with relatively long instrumental part in a driving rhythm section at opening. The music flows continuously at moderate tempo with some riffs. The tempo turns up at the ending part of the track.

"Left to chance" reminds me to the music of Symphony X especially on keyboard work. This track combines classic rock with prog met sound with simple piano touch. It's a melodic track with nice soft riffs. "Moving target" is simple in structure and quite melodic; good guitar solo during interlude with symphonic musical background. "Do what you feel" is the concluding track with many riffs, guitar and keyboard solos and great vibe sounds. The bonus track "Access denied" is a wonderful acoustic song.

Overall, I consider this album excellent. The only thing concerns me is probably about a bit "rough" riffs that I can hear clearly through out this album. It's probably the issue of mixing not performance. For those of you who like prog met genre should try this one. Rating 3.75 / 5. GW, Indonesia.

Whoa! Where did these guys come from? Actually, Germany is where POVERTY'S NO CRIME hail from. The great sound this band commands really caught me by surprise. I was duly impressed, so much that I listened to "The Chemical Chaos" repeatedly, at least five times. The more I heard it the more I thought about bands like DREAM THEATER and The FLOWER KINGS. Their powerful riffing combined with a well-built layer of keyboards and the vocals brought the thoughts of the other powerhouse groups to mind.

The main ingredient that attracted me was their reliability in every song, solid musicianship, and melodic sense while playing high-test prog-metal. I think it takes real talent to play such heavy music and be able to make it a little softer and more appealing to a broader audience than one specific group of listeners. This band has what it takes to catch many ears that enjoy rock music. I find the meaning of their name paradoxical, although I really do not know how they came up with it or what it means to them, their music is far from being impoverished. This group is basking in the glow of its rich musical powers. I am baffled as to why I never heard of them before, yet I realize there are probably many more bands out there that I have not had the joy of listening to yet.

Once you hear the hooks in the opening track "Walk Into Nowhere," it will take a matter of minutes for you to decide whether this music is for you. I would be willing to bet that most of you, particularly the prog-metal enthusiast, will not be able to get this album out of rotation in their stereos for a while. Let me know what happens when you get it. Progressive Metal rules!

Well, what to say, what to say... Um, this album totally rocks! I mean, anyone that disagrees - please,, listen to the most excellent bass-solo(ish) part on Walk into nowhere. That alone is worth buying the album for! Genius! As far as the other tracks go, each and every one is awesome! I mean, WOW!

If I had to pick favourite tracks though, I would have to choose "All Minds In One" , "Terminal Trip" , "Moving Target" and (of course) the opening track - "Walk Into Nowhere". Each of these are so brilliant that I had the entire on repeat on a 10hour bus journey. Very sad, I know. But the album IS that good. Believe me. The unique blend of bass, keyboards, drums and electric guitar (lol) are just excellent! Definately worth a listen.

The revolution of the bands of progressive rock metal has had like result the birth of new proposals that in truth are not you swim bad an example is this German band Poverty's nonCrime, in truth are good prospectos for future, in this heading the European Nordic countries have the control because it is the main bud of bands is here, followed of the greatest producer of world the USA, clear that this it is only a country, the concept like many of the present time are the technological one, in this case the chemical chaos, without you doubt opens that to hope futures discs of this band and also to hope that they want to innovate more.

Well, I must say!! Damn, what an album! This is my first review here, but i don't consider myself a newbee, since I've listened to progressive music half my life. And it ain't often one stumbles over an album like this.

First and foremost, just take a minute and chew on the band's name; Poverty's no Crime... Brilliant. And when the musicians are THAT talented, and with lyrics that speaks so directly, taking terms up for discussion like that (as also Pain of Salvation and Pallas does), it is most certainly almost bound to be a success. I'm so tierd of all the bull[&*!#] lyrics alot of bands have, also alot of progressive bands, regardless of subgenre, about madness and disillusion and misery, and knights and dragons (Symphony X) that really don't speak to me personally, i really don't care about knights, it's not my thing (though i'm a fan of symph. x, it's not that), and we all know the world is a F***ed up place, and loonyness and lonelyness is just a mistake or coincident away from all of us, why does every progressive song be so depressive? I'm not requesting Happy Metal, but why not try to teach the listeners something, instead of just taking away their smiles and leaving them with a feeling that nothing can be fixed?

Thats what Volker Walsemann does with his writing, he has a message, a theory on way-of-life that we should all take a lesson from. The best examples on what I mean is track number three All Minds in One, and track number seven, Do What You Feel. Both this songs are Extremely well composed, both musically and lyrically, and are the highlights of the album(of the more heavy ones) together with track five Terminal Trip wich is an instrumental one.

When it comes to the more soft, ballad type of songs, track four A World Without Me and track ten Access Denied are equally good and well written. Rest of the tracks are more standard prog, not THAT good, but not bad either. And because of that this album gets four stars from me. Not a TRULY MINDBLOWING MASTERPIECE, but it contains masterpieces, if I can say it like that, and that makes the album a must have.

(Volker is by the way a decent singer, but you can easily hear that he is german, but he hasn't THAT much of an accent)

I really can't understand why these guys are not so well known...

I like this cd a lot, it's a very melodic but hard hitting record. I think most agree that this is their best album, but "Slave To Mind" is another excellent release by them.

"Walk Into Nowhere" opens with some atmosphere as sounds come and go until the song kicks into gear a minute in. Check out the bass ! Nice melodic guitar and then the vocals arrive followed by a galloping rhythm. A chunky bass solo is next before the vocals return. Some killer guitar 3 1/2 minutes in that goes on for some time. Just a feel good track. "Every Kind Of Life" is a darker track with more good bass as guitar plays over top. Love when the vocals come in with blazing synths. This one is very uptempo once the vocals came in. The tempo does shift throughout though. The organ is a nice touch 4 minutes in. "All Minds In One" opens with acoustic guitar and reserved vocals. Guitars and heaviness come crashing in. Check out the guitar melody 3 1/2 minutes in followed by some deep bass a minute later then organ. "A World Without Me" is the only track that i'm not a fan of. It does end well though.

"Terminal Trip" is an absolutely killer instrumental. The bass, the riffs, the background synths all work perfectly. "Pact With The Past" opens with some cool drumming and crying guitar before piano and then heaviness arrives. Vocals 2 1/2 minutes as it settles down. Heaviness is back 4 minutes in with some great organ runs joining in as well. Themes are repeated. "Left To Chance" is heavy duty to open as synths join in. It calms down as piano and vocals come in. The contrast continues. Check out the wicked guitar 1 1/2 minutes in. Great tune. "Moving Target" opens with riffs as vocals join in. Tasteful guitar follows then piano. Back to the riffs as the contrast continues. "Do What You Feel" opens with a flute like sound and then choir sounds before a sinister guitar riff comes in. The tempo picks up and slows down quickly. This is probably my favourite track. It rocks ! Heavy low end guitar is back with background synths joining in then vocals. Sounds like vibes 4 1/2 minutes in as the song rebuilds. Blistering guitar 6 1/2 minutes in.

A solid 4 star Prog-Metal album.

With this release, Pioverty's no Crime climbs to a higher level in prog metal, that is for sure, their best album , at least for me. Now they reached the peak of their career with The chemical chaos from 2003. Everything is top notch here, from excellent, in places quite impressive musicianship to the spectacular chops and obsolutly stunning keybords arrangements made by Jörg Springup. The voice again is at higher level, the instrumental passages are classy as ever, cab beat any well known prog metal band from this genre, the instrumental track called Terminal trip or the intro of the longest pieces from here Pact withe past, shows how great this band is and how strong ideas they have. I must say that they are better then most of the bands from today in prog metal zone, with this album they prove that they need a wider recognition, who by the way is a little unnoticed here in PA. From the slower moments, with guitar shines on every note galoping through keyboards and bass passages that will envy any prog metal musician, Poverty's No Crime did it with this album, really a fantastic and full of catchy tune. Well done guys, I msut admit I never expected to sound so strong in first place. Recommended band and this album in particular, one of the most pleasent albums from prog metal subgenre I've come across latley, 4 stars for sure. This band needs to be discovered by a larger public, they worth it.

Poverty's best work. Previous ones were also good, but here they finally get a top-notch production (more hard-rockish than metallic) which really serves to bring out power and emotion in their music. The first three songs are actually one of the best 1-2-3 punches to open an album I've heard. Catchy melodies, tempo shifts, a slap bass solo. What's not to like? They might be slightly less complicated than previous 2 albums in the sense that they are no song-within-a-song numbers here. But hardly a note is wasted.

In addition to the first three, also of mention are the beautiful melancholic acoustic version of Access denied, and the instrumental Terminal Trip - one of my favorite prog metal instrumentals with its diverse array of keyboard breaks and twin guitar harmonizing. It's different from other songs which revolve around phylosophical issues, and reminds me of a sci-fi chase movie.

Now, the job of a reviewer obligates me to point out not only pros but contras as well. Ooh I don't know. Second half weaker that the first half? 9-minute Pact with the past overstates it welcome? It's just cherry picking.

Overall, excellent work.

Back with their fifth album, Poverty's No Crime show no signs of slowing down with yet another hard rocking set. While some of these songs probably come under the prog metal banner, there are other which are much more straightforward melodic hard rock. Opener "Walk Into Nowhere" is a good snapshot of the whole of the album ? there are times when it is riffing hard, times when it is soft and gentle, sometimes all of the band rocking hard and at others it is just vocals and acoustic guitar. All of the time it is keeping to a strong melody so that even though the music is flowing and changing it is very easy to listen to. This would be a great gig opener, as it would really pump up the crowd. But what makes this song for me is the small gap where a few finger popped bass notes make their appearance felt and linger ? it is small nuances that can really make a song.

Each song flows into the next, and the band is happy blasting along or just playing gently, but this never lasts for too long. On "Every Kind Of life" the guitars are blasting out while the keyboards gently follow the vocal melody, simple stuff but it works. Strong production helps the music to be captured at its' best, and the result is an album that is full of powerful songs and rocking guitars that anybody who enjoys prog metal will have to have in their collection. Superb.

Originally appeared in Feedback #78, April 2004