FAHRENHEIT – Chain Reaction

Fahrenheit is a band comprised of 4 musicians from Chile and a vocalist originally from England; all combined boasting an average age of 22 years old. The band, initially started in 2001, morphed its line up and name a few times before settling on Fahrenheit, then landed a deal with Perris Records, which allowed them to augment their Chain Reaction EP to a full-length release in the first quarter of 2004.

Stylistically and musically, Chain Reaction comes across as a mix between Bon Jovi’s first album and early Ratt. Lyrically and topically, however, Fahrenheit tends to demonstrate reduced substance than both comparatives, focusing more than occasionally on semi-bluntly expressed crotch-orientated lyrics with sporadic F-Bombs less than strategically placed. Vocally, Chaz Thompson shows notable talent in the vein of Bon Jovi, Stephen Pearcy from Ratt, and Whitfield Crane from Ugly Kid Joe. After overcoming a few initial bumps in the road, this album is an overall success and a solid debut effort by a band that could be a significant player in the quasi-Hairband Metal sub-genre.

The band indeed has all of the tools at its disposal for success – a talented, versatile vocalist, really good guitarists, solid bass guitar play, and impressive drum work. Fahrenheit tops all of this off with dependable production quality and a generally fun approach to Metal music in this 11-track album.

Chain Reaction starts off with “Prom Nite,” a song with good guitar pace, licks, and solos. The lyrics, centered around the chorus of “Gotta get laid on your Prom Night!,” are nothing short of juvenile and asinine – especially from a bunch of guys who are, on average, 4 years since removed from their last legitimate Prom, and from a country where I question whether or not the Prom concept is even practiced! Anyway, reliance on this chorus and the recurring “Whoa – Ohs” in the song definitely give a first impression that Fahrenheit is basically a cheap Hairband copycat to the Nth degree. Musically the song rocks, however, and quickly raises your eyebrows of interest.

The 2nd track is “Unleash The Love,” and is a bit peculiar because it has stand alone music that’s really good and stand alone lyrics that are really good – put them together, though, and they simply don’t mesh. The music is straightforward rock ‘n’ roll, but the lyrics are pretty emotional – in the end, both elements just don’t mix all that well together!

After this discombobulated, if not rocky, start, the album really starts to take shape and gathers its direction beginning with track #3, “Hot Leather.” This song starts out with some scratching pick-on-guitar-string effects, and then assembles an early Bon Jovi all-around musical structure that makes this track a complete success.

Track #4, “King of the Night,” has an almost identical beginning to “Eat Me Alive” from Judas Priest’s Defenders of the Faith album. After the transitional cymbals, however, the similarities cease, and a solid song remains with one of the more impressive guitar solos on the album.

Next is “Be Mine,” which is the 1st of 2 power ballads. It starts with a Spanish-ish guitar intro that alters into something sounding a whole lot like the guitar riff from Robert Plant’s “Ship of Fools” classic. The song is mostly an impressive effort, but it lasts too long and the lyrics become a tad too cliche and emotional for the band’s otherwise “fun” musical setting. After all, how many times have we heard the reference to “…drowning in a sea of sorrow” before? Too many to count, methinks!

The 6th and best track on the album is “No News, Good News.” Here Chaz Thomson comes across sounding like Stephen Pearcy, but with better overall range. The song starts with a great guitar riff and sets the stage for Javier Bassino to continually outdo himself with each ensuing track through to the end.

Track #7 is a Bassino instrumental that lasts about a minute and a half and certainly showcases his talents, as did “Eruption” for Eddie Van Halen in their first release way back when. Comparatively, there’s a bit of filler time at the end of this one, but it is nearly as impressive. The end of Bassino’s solo gives way to the 8th song, “Roadkill,” which is just a fun, high energy, musically impressive Metal song.

Track #9 has its moments of vocal awkwardness, but shifts gears around the 2 and a half-minute mark to allow the listener to tally another one up in the “success” column.

“Chains ‘n’ Cellars” follows, and is a close 2nd in quality to “No News, Good News.” I’m overusing the term “fun,” but for lack of a more appropriate term, this song’s another fun one.

The album closes with its 2nd power ballad called “Two Souls One Heart.” Fahrenheit evidently has been influenced by a vast array of bands, because the style of this song is very much in line with Poison’s “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” mega-hit. Thomson shows continued vocal diversity when he assimilates the song’s musical style with a Bret Michaels vocal style. In the end, the band’s efforts result in the best ballad I’ve heard thus far in 2004.

So there you have it – not a perfect album, but an upbeat, summer-heat type album with periods of true greatness and signs of future potential for a newcomer on the Metal block. What they may lack thus far in their careers concerning lyrics writing capabilities, Fahrenheit indeed makes up for in solid musicianship across the board and at every turn.