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I first came across this band some 20 years ago when they posted their first three albums for free on their web site. While listening to Planet Chaos I revisited a couple of those albums to see how much has changed. While this one is quite different, I found that it shares a lot of similarities with their earlier output. Basically, "It's Carcariass."

Planet Chaos is one hell of a rollercoaster ride. They play "progressive melodic death metal," and that's not melodic in the Gothenburg sense. I almost rated the album a bit lower because it's kind of a mess (shall I say... chaos?) as they do a lot of stuff and the album, which kind of lengthy at more than an hour, sounds disjointed at times. What's constant are the strong melodies that are delivered pretty much in the same style throughout, sort of overwhelming the death metal elements at times. These melodies and accompanying vocals are kind of catchy and more often than not kind of depressing, which I guess makes sense based on the album title alone. The vocals vary from clean-but-harsh to decipherable death growls. I wish they had streamlined this a little bit to make it more digestible as it feels a bit long despite just about every second being an interesting listen. Definitely one of those albums that requires several listens to fully appreciate it.