Rangstrup previously played with Danish metal troop Sinphonia, an effort of marginal success even though it included some serious talent, including vocalist Monika Pederson who ended up with Sirenia. According to Rangstrup, Sinphonia just happened during a dead zone time period in Danish metal history, and he escaped to look for greener pastures. He moved to Cagliari, which is on the island of Sardinia and quickly found work in the music scene. After some time looking over the local talent pool, he formed Chaoswave with the intention of forming a sound that combined aggressive and powerful riffing with a more melodic structure, in the vein of bands such as Nevermore and Control Denied. To that end, he brought on a duel lead male / female vocal consisting of Giorgia Fadda and Fabio Carta, backed up by Marco Angioni on base, Raphael Saini on drums and Rangstrup doing most of the guitar work. There are other performers but this is the core of the Chaoswave sound.

The White Noise Within is the first of two releases from the band. It arrived in 2005 and met with some success, enough to keep the band going until the new release Dead Eye Dreaming took the band to the upper end of the European music scene, where it remains today. But White Noise Within has some solid material as well, and should not be overlooked. The comparison, of course, is to fellow Italians Lacuna Coil. That’s not a bad comparison, especially given the popularity of Coil in the US. But, other than the fact that both bands feature a male/female lead vocal, I don’t really see that much comparison. Chaoswave’s Giorgia Fadda has a fine, melodic vocal style, nothing to complain about, but she is no Cristina Scabbia. Male vocalist Fabio Carta, on the other hand, blows Coil’s Andreas out of the water. And the two of them together provide a truly interesting harmony, one that works quite well over the haunting atmosphere and heavy pounding drums that tend to resemble the Norwegian band Madder Mortem.

It should be pointed out that Rangstrup is an axe man of the highest quality. That axe provides a number of styles, a thundering speed metal, a more classic understated approach, and the more traditional metal used to underscore the vocals on several numbers. The range of style is driven by the individual songs presented. Paint the Poet Dead, for instance, launches with a driving guitar riff. The vocals, both male and female, provide a true interpretation to the Chaoswave sound. The harmonies are tight and the sound moves at half octave increments, with an almost Oriental tone. But, always, in the background, the crunching guitar reminds you this is metal land, and really good metal at that. There’s a short guitar bridge towards the middle that features Rangstrup at his best, and it is way too short.

Swept Away features the speed guitar, the tighter riff over a pounding drum line and a different tempo completely. Vocals are again harmonic in nature. But, the singers take turns with the lyrics in addition to singing together. Those vocals tend to drive the song more than the guitars, which serve to fill in between the vocal components. Lyrics tend to be somewhat Gothic in nature, but not of the brutal type often found in Scandinavian Gothic like the Morton Veland bands.

One could say that for Chaoswave, the delivery of the message is more important than the message.

Mirror takes the band into a ballad, of sorts. The introduction is handled by a soft guitar, almost Spanish in nature, that lulls the listener into an atmospheric melody. A mournful vocal carries this approach further, until it is interrupted by a speed metal guitar that drives the song into hard male vocals over the thundering base and the speeding riffs of Rangstrup. The female vocals are introduced at some point and the blending of the two voices moves the song forward. Fadda and Carta have interesting voices, they are actually similar in many ways and, at times, it’s difficult to determine which is singing when they are doing solos. Clearly, however, they are at their best when they sing together, the blending of the two voices is pretty much the single most attractive component of the song here. And, of course, there is a little time for Rangstrup to strut his talent towards the end. I have to say, I wish there were a little more of this throughout the CD, we rarely get more than a short solo from this accomplished guitar player and the thirst is there for more. You probably won’t get it on the second album either since he brings in several of his friends to do much of the solo work there. Too bad.

There’s an interesting little segment in the middle of the CD, actually two titles that are clearly meant to be a single entity. You wouldn’t know they were individual titles without looking at the lineup. The first is called The End of Me. Its atmospheric rock at it’s finest. Like sitting around the living room, listening to Pink Floyd while trying to remember where you were back in the drug filled 60s. The vocals are haunting, but, unfortunately short-lived. After a couple minutes, the tune bleeds into the subsequent title, The Wasteland of Days and Chaoswave is back in full metal delivery. Clearly, this is one of the highpoints of the CD. It covers all the band is about in one title. Hard guitars, soft guitars, vocal solos from both singers and the tight harmonics when they sing together. And, maybe, it is that combination of solid guitars and a beautiful harmony when both vocalists are singing that is the definitive statement of what Chaoswave is all about.

All in all, a strong first album from the band, and a promise that the next one will be even better. But this one is worth the price, and worth the listen.

8 / 10