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Skovol Unit : Chronology of Chaos
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Skovol Unit is grounded in Progressive Rock/Metal, with other styles explored along the way. This 2-disc compilation starts from the very first 4-track demo and progresses through various studio sessions.
Genre: Rock: Progressive Rock
Release Date: 2007
Chronology of Chaos Record Label: Skovol Bomb Music
  • Download Album (MP3) - $11.11
  • Buy CD - $11.98
Preview Song Name Time Format Price Select
Bachwards Boureé/Theif of Souls 5:33 $0.50
Equal Opportunity Destroyer 5:18 $0.50
Negative Charge 6:53 $0.50
The Measure of a Man 11:29 $0.50
Hidden Truths 4:15 $0.77
The Black Heart of Business (Part 1 of The Corporate Greed Trilo 7:17 $0.77
Ghost Rider 10:15 $0.99
Manual Circuit Override (The Highest Price, Pt. II) 8:37 $0.99
Laughter's Mask 6:41 $0.99
From Here to Eternity ('93 demo) 5:07 $0.50
Québecois Rain ('93 demo) 6:11 $0.40
Québecois Rain ('96 demo) 5:43 $0.55
Nanji (original mix) 6:32 $0.55
Crying 4:10 $0.55
Reflections ('96 demo) 6:41 $0.40
If 5:36 $0.70
Have a Nice Day...Always! (Part 3 of The Corporate Greed Trilogy 7:07 $0.99
Uroboros 3:58 $0.99
No Place to Run 4:50 $0.88
Something Else 5:32 $0.99
From Here to Eternity-2002 version 4:13 $0.99
Conspiracie en Rouge 5:49 $0.99
Reflections-2003 version 6:11 $0.99
The Battle of Wolf 359 (Home Guitar Demo) 1:54 $0.40
The Battle of Wolf 359 (Synthesized Ochestral Version) 2:03 $0.40
Snowblind (2006 guitar/vocal basement tape) 7:23 $0.00
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Album Notes

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Skovol Unit’s “Chronology of Chaos” is two disc set that starts from the very first 4 track demos-warts,bumps,blips,boomps,blurbles and all-, and ends with a glimpse towards their official sophomore release (working title B.A.M.)

Not everything recorded is presented. However, each song on the compilation represents a step forward in a journey of odd metered mayhem.

The tracks are presented in the order they were recorded. Here are the tracks with the year recorded, and some background behind them (for even more detailed info, see the "behind the chaos" page on Skovol units official website).

DISC 1
1)Thief of Souls :4-track demo recorded in 1988
There is only one guitar track, so it doesn’t sound as heavy as it would with 2 rhythm guitars. To this day, Scott’s first guitar solo on the song remains one BDC’s favorites, described by Mr. Bell as "pure fire unleashed." Though it may not sound like it, the idea for the song was sparked by the bible verse "Then the one sitting on the cloud set his sickle to work on the earth, and the harvest of earth was reaped." (Revelations 14:16)

2) Equal Opportunity Destroyer: 4 track demo 1988
2 rhythm guitars beef up the sound. The drums and bass are still provided via programming.

3) Negative Charge (The Highest Price, Part III) 4-track demo 1990
The same recording process as before. The song is being re-recorded and revamped for the forthcoming B.A.M.

4) The Measure of a Man (The Highest Price, Part I) 4 track demo 1990
The first recording where MD got brave enough to trying playing a real bass. (the bass that was provided was huge, even for a bass).

5) Hidden Truths-1993
The first song recorded in digital. (8 tracks) Also, the fist song with David Bell on drums. Originally released on "Crinkum-Crankum" as Conflict Theory, before it was discovered the name was already taken. (Crinkum-Crankum: Anything full of twist and turns)

6)The Black Heart of Business (Part 1 of The Corporate Greed Trilogy)
Recorded during the "Crinkum-Crankum" session.

7)Ghost Rider
Recorded during the "Crinkum-Crankum" session. What seemed like a good idea (a heavy metal-western song) didn’t quite pan out, largely due to the fact that automated computer mixing was not commonplace at the time, so it had to be mixed “on the fly”.

8)Manual Circuit Override (The Highest Price, Part II)
Recorded during the "Crinkum-Crankum" session. Released on "Mapping the Labyrinth" edited and sped up. Here it is presented as originally mixed.

9)Laughter’s Mask
Recorded during the "Crinkum-Crankum" session.

10) From Here to Eternity-1993
The first song recorded with just acoustic guitar and vocal.

11) Québecois Rain-1993
Recorded on an analog 8 track, with Scott and Dave both playing “drum” parts with a keyboard, which didn’t turn out very well. However, the tune is presented here for historical/comparison purposes.

DISC 2)
1) Québecois Rain-1996
Compared to 3 years earlier, a big step forward. Dave is playing real drums, Scott’s vocals are starting to show improvement, and though the bass line is essentially the same, some popping and octave jump are thrown in. The guitar solo is also one of Dave’s faves.

2) Nanji-1996
There was originally supposed to be a sax solo on this, but unfortunately, the schedule never worked out. Luckily, the chord progression where the solo was going to go works fine without a lead instrument over it.

3) Crying-1996
Proof that you never know when inspiration will strike: Scott was sitting at s stoplight when he saw a guy walking down the sidewalk, caught in a terrible downpour. The guy looked miserable of course, and the first two verses popped into Scott’s head almost immediately. To this day, it’s uncertain what musical category this falls into.

4) Reflections-1996
Hastily recorded guitar/vocal piece.

5)If
First song recorded at Monastic Chambers. Before the vocals could be recorded, someone at Scott’s job sprayed an excessive amount of disinfectant in a small room, causing his throat to tighten to the point where he could barely speak. It took almost two months before he could speak normally, and wasn’t quite recovered when the vocals were finally recorded. Dave plays the acoustic guitar on this one.

6) Have a Nice Day…(Always!)-1998
This was practiced for two years before attempting to record it. Two complete run-throughs of bass and drums were recorded, and the first one was determined the best take. This is a stepping stone because 1) When it was first presented to Dave, he commented “There’s no way I’ll ever be able to play that” 2) When practice actually began to happen, the structure stayed the same as the original basement tape, but Dave made suggestions that contributed to the energy of the song as well as smoothed out some of the odd-metered riffs, while still keeping them in odd time signatures. These suggestions affected Scott’s future compositions by constructing odd-metered riffs to be more in a groove (but not always).

7) Uroboros-2001
First song contributed by Dave. This was actually going to be on a CD project for the other band that Dave was playing in at the time(Hence, Scott Freeman on vocals), and Scott Mapes was asked to play bass on it. This ended up being the opening track for Mapping the Labyrinth

8)No Place to Run-2001
Another more "commercial" piece. Although it’s obvious a drum machine was used, Dave did help with the programming.

9)Something Else
Yet another slightly commercial offering (in an odd-meter sot of way). Dave’s drum kit for this was a bass drum, snare drum, high-hat and a cymbal. The guitar solo on this is one of Scott’s favorites (and also, the lead tone he’s most pleased with)

10) From Here to Eternity-2002
Same song as the ‘93 version, but better guitar sound and Scott has better vocal ability than on the original

11) Conspiracie en Rouge-2002
The harmonies were unintentional. Scott sang the whole song at different pitches to see which ones worked best. In fact, the lowest ones were only done with the intent of being a warm-up! But, it was decided to use all the tracks, as it would be something a little out of the norm (as if the 8 different time signature changes in the middle are normal)

12) Reflections-2003
Same song as the ‘96 version, but much better guitar sound (double-tracked nylon string) and a huge leap in vocal abilities.

13) The Battle of wolf 359 -home demo 2003
Just a quick demo with 2 guitars recorded on Scott’s 8-track. The guitars are a little off in a couple of spots, but the recording does it’s intended purpose of demonstrating the piece.

14) The Battle of Wolf 359-Synthesised Orchestral Version-2003
More of an in-studio experiment than anything.

15) Snowblind- guitar/vocal basement tape-2006
A demo of one of the songs from the forthcoming B.A.M. Described by Dave as “probably the heaviest thing” Scott has written, this is also demonstrative of the general direction of Skovol Unit’s official sophomore release. While not every song will be this heavy, and some will have soft passages, there won’t be any ballads.

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REVIEWS

Congratulations on GrIndie Award
author: RadioIndy.com
RadioIndy is proud to present Skovol Unit a GrIndie Award for their CD "Chronology of Chaos." A GrIndie Award is RadioIndy's stamp of approval that this CD is an excellent quality CD. Please join us in congratulating this artist on this accomplishment.
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Entertaining Look at the Progression of a Hard Rock Band
author: William and the RadioIndy.com Reviwer Team
"Chronology of Chaos" by Skovol Unit is a huge 2 disc compilation and is the history of this punk/metal/electro band. It starts with 4 track demos and takes you chronologically through the life of the band, in a very interesting look at the progression of a band. This is some old school stuff with impressive guitar licks. They have a true garage punk sound and sensibility with wild rhythm changes, complex timing, and "in your face" lyrics. Early songs like "Equal Opportunity Destroyer" are examples of their loud mosh pit sound. Later songs like "Something Else" transition into melody and polished sound. There is also a cool home guitar called "Battle of the Wolf 359". If you like Iron Maiden and Descendents, you will like this one.
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Not what I was hoping for :(
author: John Jelliffe
I was really hoping for their second studio release!! When I saw this was a compilation of their old material, I about skipped it. I’m glad I didn’t. First, you have to be patient with this. It starts with a series of four track demos, and the sound quality is sub par, but good for demos. It’s interesting to see Scott Mapes’ growth as both a guitarist and vocalist. (based on my Mapping the Labyrinth CD, I’m assuming he wrote everything but Uroboros). On the opener, “Thief of Souls”, it’s evident that Mapes has a ways to go in terms of technical facility with both guitar and voice. And the sound quality suck, but the song ROCKS! Over the course of two disc, you hear Mapes solos evolve from off the cuff, hyperactive manic displays to well constructed, hyperactive manic displays. I think planning the solos seems to take away something, but they’re still impressive. I would say the only clunkers are The Black Heart of Business, parts of The Measure of a Man, and the first half of the Ghostrider solo. (Ghostrider is exactly a described: a great idea that didn’t pan out. I say redo it. It’s cool!!) And finally, excuse my language, but the first time I heard the Thief of Souls solo, I really did yell out “Holy shit!”. Pure, unbridled nuclear energy exploding. And to think, the same guy wrote the mellow acoustic stuff too! The CD’s finish with an instrumental first played by Mapes, then by an orchestra of keyboards. And the awesome kill shot, which is, of all things, a home demo of one of the songs from their forthcoming release --the one they said would be out in spring of 2007. C’mon, where IS it?!! If this demo is any indication, the next CD is going to be incredible. Not only did Mapes double the rhythm guitar track, he did so with stunning accuracy. Believe me, the guitar playing on this is INSANE! Even more surprising was Mapes vocal performance. (Has somebody been taking lessons?) That’s one question. I have two more 1) What does BAM stand for? And (2) am I ever going to get to hear it? !!!!
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