This is a band with the gospel of Jesus in their DNA and the gift of music in their veins, dedicated to spread that same gospel of Jesus Christ.
The band started 2006 in Poteau, Oklahoma, US and is actually a ministry – not only performing music, but praying for their fans in bars, churches or whereever they go. “ When you have the Divine inside of you, You can´t go anywhere without being ready to share about it” .
Lineup: Travis McConnell – Singer/songwriter, bassist, frontman Logan “LA” Ellis: Lead guitarist/backup vocals Isaac David: Bass James Stolhammer: Drums
Being brought up in Christian homes with hymns and Southern gospel have given these guys a strong and natural faith in God, that is easy to sense when you meet them. The father of the frontman/singer/bassist Travis, Rocky McConnell, is the manager and also travels with the band on tours. The band and management is a fine example of what Christian parents trying to keep a clear agenda considering faith, prayer and being an example to their kids and teens can accomplish. Many of us know the challenges of trying to rise our kids in this broken world where the influences come from so many places and from everything else other than honesty and spiritual purity.
” With whom, then, will you compare God? To what image will you liken him? Is. 40:18 We are nothing more than a Chaotic Resemblance of His perfection.”
My impression:
My first encounter with this band was at Meltdown, UK in 2019. I didn´t know much about the band before I checked them out on YouTube and Spotify. The heavy songs are “straight in the heart and stomach”-metal songs which I really liked. But one thing confused me a bit, the most listened-to song was “Jesus is King”, which must be considered a worship ballad.
I didn´t quite know what to make of that, but decided to see what the band is all about once I had seen their live performance. After meeting them and witnessing the live show I must assure you that Chaotic Resemblance, testifies that Jesus is the true rock star and they’re doing what they can to make him known.
Talking to Travis during the Meltdown event in UK, 2019 he summarised the bands motto as: “Today’s world is full of so much hate, lies & deceit. We offer love and hope through Jesus Christ”
Influences and the sound:
Travis also mentioned their influences as: Stryper, Bloodgood, Disciple, Bon Jovi, Mötley Crüe, and many more.
The sound of the heavier songs and style of the band is very familiar to me and can be described as a mixture of molten metal, sleaze, ’80s style LA metal, and glam rock mixed with modern heavy metal elements. In Sweden we have a whole bunch of secular bands with a similar appearance and sound to the heavier songs of Chaotic Resemblance: Backyard Babies, Hardcore Superstar Crash Diet and Crazy Lixx for example.
Releases:
EPs:
Chaotic Resemblance (2012)
Battle Lines (2013)
Full lengths:
Get The Hell Out (2014, produced by Oz Fox of Stryper)
Covenant (2018, produced by Oz Fox & Josiah Prince)
Single:
“Unto the Lamb” (2020)
The news of the Gospel will never get old, it just needs to get served in an up-to-date and appealing package. Chaotic Resemblance can be seen as one of the newest generation’s answers to that.
At the Liveshow:
At the actual show the energy on the stage was high and they surely gave the heavy fast paced “straight in the heart and stomach-metal” I had expected, from shredding guitar solos and screaming vocals, to heavy metal breakdowns, but at the end of the show everything was slowed down with the worship ballad “Jesus Is King”, setting the audiences mind to the real core and purpose of the music: making Christ known. The performance rounded up with Travis making sure that not a single person in need of an encounter with Jesus would leave the venue not knowing that truly “Jesus is King “. Travis read from the Bible and offered prayers for anyone who had not yet accepted Jesus as their saviour and also offering prayers for anyone suffering of issues with their health.
Their heart to God and the gospel of Christ is for every Christian rock musician to take after. They are ready to play their music anywhere, proving that taking Jesus out from the church to the people who need to meet him is valid and important.
Teaming up with “Uncle Oz”:
Things seems to really have moved forward for the band after they met Oz Fox from Stryper and he started to produce their songs and their first full length album.
Being around for some years the band has gone thru some lineup changes and recently struggled with changes of drummer, together with the same challenges the whole music industry has right now. They bravely released a new single as late as November 5th, 2020. With Oz falling sick the band decided that the proceeds from the single will all go to help Oz on his way to recovery. The song is also hitting charts like christianrock.net, now being in the the top ten most requested songs.
Unto The Lamb
The future:
It seems that the mission of spreading God’s love and the gospel lies very heavy on them and they are now back with a new lineup with a long-term friend joining them. We can now follow the future of this band with excitement. The latest news being that “Unto the Lamb” is nominated for a Grizzly Award, and also that they will be one of the headliners for Chains Unchained Festival 2021.
Written by: MetalMira in January 2021