Chastain
In Dementia
The second Kate French era cd melds together the 4 great individual talents of vocalist Kate French, guitarist David T. Chastain, bassist Kevin Kekes and
drummer Dennis Lesh. The group continues it's heavy bombastic sound
created on 1995's SICK SOCIETY. David states, "We kept the heavier
90's sound but added more of the progressive stylings from the original
CHASTAIN."
Also this is the first time in David's career where all songwriting
was evenly split. "I really love what Kate does with the melodies
and lyrics and I finally felt comfortable with letting someone take that
responsibility 100%," the guitarist comments. "She sings with much
more emotion on topics that are personal to her as opposed to the
sociopolitical themes that I seem to dwell on." "Plus with her also
being an excellent musician, she can understand what is happening
musically and make relevant suggestions."
The lyrical content on this new release centers on Kate's views
of life, relationships, religion, sex and other things important to her.
"You don't really have to go into a fantasy world to find topics to
write about in today's demented world," Kate says. "Anyway, we all
love, hate and desire sex!"
Whereas SICK SOCIETY was more of a studio project with everyone doing a little bit of everything, IN DEMENTIA is truly a group effort
with each person excelling in their own area of expertise. David states,
"When we toured for SICK SOCIETY and had Kevin playing bass full time
and Kate just concentrating strictly on vocals, everything just fell into
place." Make no mistake, this is a group effort and everyone deserves
equal credit in the final result.
The band hopes to do an extended tour after the release and visit
Europe, Japan, Mexico and hopefully for the first time Brazil. "I really
enjoy going to new places and meeting the fans," David states. "I feel
this band will be a force to reckon with in a live setting."
The band continues to explore new musical territory and yet still
find ways of incorporating the best of the past. IN DEMENTIA promises to be one of the top heavy progressive metal releases for years to come. Simply put;
heavily demented progressive metal!!
This release also re-issued with a remastered version in 2013. This Cd is considered the top release of the Kate French era and rates in David T's 2 top Chastain releases of all time....after all who should know better.
Remastered version
Original Cd release at amazon.com
Heavy Metal Mining Company Review
3/8/1999
Alan Gilkeson - your Mining Co. Guide to:
Heavy Metal
Chastain- In Dementia (Leviathan Records)
Combine four amazing talents and you have the amazing Chastain. The
versatility of guitarist David T. Chastain is well documented,
possessing the ability to do just about anything with a six string, while
Bassist Kevin Kekes and drummer Dennis Lesh are an extremely
talented rhythm team pounding pure aggression combined with a subtle
elegance. However, vocalist Kate French
really stands out here. Using her powerful
Joplin like voice she rips through this nine
song set with passion and emotion. French
wrote all the lyrics and meshed with her
passion you have songs that are meaningful
and delivered with such power it's hard not to
become immersed in each tune. David T.
Chastain crunches through solid heavy riffs,
focusing on the riffs more than past Chastain
records, and remains one of the truly great guitar players of our time.
This record is a must have.
Standouts: Human Sacrifice, Desperately, In Dementia.
HARD RADIO Review June 1999
Chastain
"In Dementia"
Featuring Kate French on vocals
Available on Leviathan Records
From Axe man Extraordinaire David T. Chastain comes "In Dementia:" Nine characteristically killer tracks of guitar driven, melody saturated crunch, featuring the way In your face'/ who's yer mama' vocals of Kate French. Kate rules on this record. This is a woman born to sing metal. Very big voice here! !! An all around killer album, definitely worth checking out. Every track is ON track!!!
