One of the premier names in post-hardcore is Chiodos, who broke out in 2005 with the electric All’s Well That Ends Well album. With Craig Owens’ versatile high-pitched clean vocals and chaotic unclean vocals, matched with experimental, almost theatric instrumentals to back him up, the band had constant replayability and a niche that set them apart from others in the genre. When Owens departed and started Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows in 2009, though, the future of Chiodos was up in the air.

Enter ex-Yesterday’s Rising vocalist, Brandon Bolmer. Brandon boasted a considerably different voice from Craig, with a more somber, vicious focus in his delivery. The band would release Illuminaudio in the fall of 2010. I recall picking this album up along with Abandon All Ships’ Geeving on its release day when my dad and I were in a Best Buy. As I had been introduced to Chiodos’ All’s Well record purely by interest in its album art, I had more confidence in this purchase now that I had come to love the band. However, with no access to the internet, the vocalist change was news to me and came as a huge surprise.

I fell in love in my first spin. The production was absolutely tight, and the experimentation continued, albeit in a different fashion. The lyrical content of Illuminaudio is less angsty and more on point. Brandon employs “show, don’t tell” in his verbiage, and the aggression from the band’s instruments compliments it perfectly. The mix of softer songs, like “Notes in Constellations”, with some of Chiodos’ heaviest work yet, in “Stratovolcano Mouth”, shows that the release is more than on par with Chiodos’ impressive resume.

Following this release, Chiodos embarked on a tour with Emarosa, where Tilian Pearson, formerly of Tides of Man and currently of Dance Gavin Dance, filled in for Jonny Craig. The tour also featured Go Radio, and Decoder. I attended the Dekalb, IL stop of the tour and it stands as one of the most memorable shows I have been to. In the tiny House Cafe venue, the band, not confining themselves to Illuminaudio tracks, delivered that “better than the studio” performance and brought the house down.

Currently, Chiodos is now defunct. Owens returned to the band in 2012, and released Devil, which I consider to be their weakest effort to date. Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be for the band, but they left behind a legacy as one of the standout acts in the heavily-flooded genre that is widely considered to be generic. Brandon Bolmer is now a stunningly-talented visual artist under the moniker MASKARADE, which you can view here.

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