Chevelle Bright As Blasphemy Review
Chevelle
Bright As Blasphemy
Alchemy Records
2025
For those who still burn warm with the glow of early 2000s Alt-Rock and Metal, the news may stir a familiar spark: Chicago’s Chevelle is poised to release a new album. I’ll admit, I’m a little startled myself, not from any urge to gatekeep, but because I simply lost sight of them after “This Type of Thinking (Could Do Us In)”. Back then, their sound felt like a fresh breath in the heavy music haze of the era. Yet, to my ears, the band’s growth never strayed far from the DNA of their second album. For some acts, that sameness can be a virtue, for others, it becomes a tether. Chevelle, for me, leaned toward the latter.
Now they return with “Bright as Blasphemy”, a title that suggests a flare of defiance. The music, however, walks the same familiar corridors they’ve always paced. Yes, the songs brood a little deeper, and there’s a faint industrial sheen here and there, but the bones remain unchanged. While I personally find that predictability a bit wearying, there’s no denying their craft, especially in the vocal delivery and the gift for melodies. Hooks bloom across the album with the ease of muscle memory, and the production is polished to a high shine. For longtime faithful, this is a homecoming worth celebrating.
If you were young when Chevelle first stormed the airwaves, this record may well move you. It’s nostalgia dressed in a tailored suit, the sound of your past reintroduced with a steady handshake. But it doesn’t tear down any walls or set the earth trembling. Chevelle still plays the game they’ve always played, and they still play it well, it’s just that the thrill, for me, belongs in another time.