From the Dallas Observer:
Critics' Picks
Church of the Snake, Assacre, Chief Death Rage, Eat Avery's Bones
Saturday, October 14, at House of Tinnitus, Denton
Oct 12, 2006
Denton has long been infamous for its sporadic house-party shows, but at long last somebody has gotten serious about it. The House of Tinnitus (628 Lakey St.) might be now the prime North Texas destination for the oddball musical misfits passing through who can't, won't or just don't wanna set foot in the concrete club world. Case in point: the abomination from Austin known as Assacre (Massacre without the, uh...). Picture this: one young gay man with a guitar, in an outlandishly colorful costume, complete with Godzilla mask and a smorgasbord of riff-tastic classic-metal backing tracks from his juicy catalog of choice cuts such as "Gayer Than God." Also passing through is Arkansas' Church of the Snake, featuring members of the similarly ironic electro-hesher cocktail Attractive & Popular. Rounding out this extroverted evening are Denton's Chief Death Rage, a Sabbath-y project helmed by the Undoing of David Wright's Shane English [and the oft-forgotten Aaron Marshal], and the spastically infectious Eat Avery's Bones, one of Dallas' few great young hopes.
From weshotjr.com:
At last week's
Chief Death Rage show, I was reminded once again of how some prog elements are making their way into the music scene and gaining relevance amongst more forward thinking musicians. Although quite a bit more heavy than anything Yes ever produced, CDR's songs swayed back and forth in between stop time riffs, subtle half step modulations and wild rhythm changes, all of which were executed with the acute precision of, well, a prog rock band. Take Rush's "Cygnus X-1" and
Black Sabbath's, "Black Sabbath" and you're somewhere close...
From NT Daily:Denton band: 'It'll be like Cheap Trick'
Sara Southerland
Posted: 9/20/06
The band coins itself one of the best new bands around. The group calls itself Chief Death Rage.
"That's a strong declaration, and we mean it," said singer/drummer Aaron Marshal.
The Denton-based rock 'n' roll band formed in late 2005. The three-piece band is Orville Neeley (guitarist of Denton's The Influence), Shane English (guitarist and bassist of Denton's The Undoing of David Wright) and Marshal.
Chief Death Rage was born after an Undoing practice at Neeley's house late one November night.
"Aaron and Shane were jamming at my house, and we decided to play some music," said Neeley, Houston junior.
The first night they had three songs, in one week they had six songs, and a couple of weeks later the guys played their first show at the Yellow House, Neeley said.
"We've been Chiefin' it ever sense," Marshal said.
Chief's mode of operation:
"Shane and I will usually write a riff, some are simple and sometimes we try to fit as many riffs as possible into a song," Neeley said. "Then Aaron will write really jive lyrics about Satan, guns, weed or money."
Neeley voiced a collective goal of the band: to smuggle massive amounts of marijuana across the border.
"Really we just want to make something fun to play," Neeley said.
Marshal, who has been playing guitar for more than 12 years, got his first shot playing drums with the beginnings of Chief Death Rage.
"I think it's kind of our shtick because he really didn't know how to play drums at first," English said.
Neeley said it was amazing to see how Marshal has developed on a two-piece kit.
"I was worried at first that we couldn't get the heavy sound that we wanted without a full drum set, but he's really pulled it off," Neeley said.
As for Marshall, he does two firsts in the band.
"It's a lot more strenuous because I have to sing and beat on the drums," Marshal said. "But it's fun, that's why we put the reverb on the vocals."
What is Chief Death Rage … really?
"I think we have something different to offer than most bands in Denton," English said. "So many bands are so worried about being pretentious and artsy, we just want to play rock 'n' roll and have fun."
Marshal had a different outlook.
"It's like being on top of a holy mountain surrounded by clouds of all shapes and colors with keyboard solos," Marshal said. "That's really all I can say about it. I think of keyboard solos when I think of mountains."
Though Neeley is in school and English and Marshal have jobs, all three agreed that music comes first in their lives.
"Music is still the only thing I'm really into," Neeley said. "I'm not even thinking about school most of the time."
Marshal and English said they aspire to put out a record on a big label one day.
"I want to be able to support myself from just playing music," English said.
The band is planning to record a 15-song full-length album at Rambunctious Studios (at Neeley's house) through the month.
The guys hope to go on tour soon after the album release in Japan, Australia and then the United States.
"It'll be like Cheap Trick … they went to Japan and promoted themselves up like they were some huge American band," Neeley said. "Then they got big in the U.S."
"I see Chief lasting as long as all three members are alive and sane enough to play," Neeley said.
From BigDLittleD.com:Not gonna cockblock ya, pal, but we will quickly note a coupl'a things:
Chief Death Rage, your drummer might be the worst since Meg White (and lacking in the boobs and spontaneity that make her diminished prowess worthwhile). The Denton trio's sludge metal seems far beyond "competent" in terms of bass and guitar...but it would benefit from a drummer who
actually uses a bass drum. Just throwin' that out there.
From TexasGigs.comChief Death Rage's opening set of sludgy stoner-metal was a nice start. Singer Aaron Marshal bashed out childishly simple drum parts while Orville Neely III and Shane English drowned out his reverb-soaked vocals with heavy, slow riffs.