Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
History arguably has a short memory, it is up to those that find the driftwood discarded by Time and the past floating on the ever-hopeful shores and beaches of accolade and account, in which to preserve it, give it a home in which commemoration can rightly be heard, adhered to. The deluge of History’s loss of memorial unless it suits its purposes is staggering, and one in which we, as keepers of such celebration, should give it sanctuary and bring forth The End of Chaos.
History has no defining say on when the end should be, it is up to the players in this cosmic game, the keepers of the eternal artistic flame who should be the ones to declare that the chaos must be concluded. To that end, one of the most criminally underrated bands of their genre, Flotsam and Jetsam, look to the shoreline of the fans and the supporters and announce that History is bunk, that the bedlam and madness of Time deserves another round, a fair fight in which Eric ‘AK’ Knutson, Steve Conley, Michael Gilbert, Michael Spencer and Ken Mary know they can win.
In tracks such as the Recover, Slowly Insane, Demolition Man, Snake Eye and Good or Bad, Time and History is given a sharp lesson in the art of service and honour, Flotsam and Jetsam may have been the only band in Kerrang’s publication history to receive a six star rating but that doesn’t mean for a single minute that they have not produced anything of note since, they have never been the one-trick pony that others have become, their sound has always been exciting, pulsing with the carnival appeal and the festivity that Progressive Metal offers with care and style.
It is a lesson to which we can salute as keepers of the supposed driftwood discarded by time and history, for what these twin entities forget is that from such finds is the beginning of a flourishing art, a new creation awaits and one in which The End of Chaos can but take joy in.
Flotsam and Jetsam release The End of Chaos on the 18th January via AFM Records.
Ian D. Hall