Review: Chameleon Technology “Blank Canvas”

This is Max Histrionic aka Chameleon Technology.

Sometimes known as ChamTech, the start of this musical endeavor started in 2009 out of Costa Mesa, CA.

Originally gaining his musical experience as a drummer for numerous local bands, the drive to realize his own vision of music finally overtook his life and has culminated into the Chameleon Technology’s Live Multimedia Experience.

The multimedia experience refers to the live, one-man show, that comes off like a three piece band. This is accomplished through taking original, separate tracks performed by Max on the drums and bass, and syncing them live to projected video of Max performing those parts. The ‘real’ Max then plays along with his guitar and provides vocals.

Numerous artists have accomplished the ‘one-man’ ethic to recording music. Few have taken this approach and managed to flush out a full band effect in a live setting.

To see the effect, check out the rock-solid title track from Chameleon Technology’s newest release, ‘Blank Canvas’. The end result is convincing. One might not even realize the band is made up of the same guy as the subtle dress changes trick the eye easy enough.

That is the closing song on the five songs of punk fueled, hard edged rock offered up on, “Blank Canvas”. Songs are aggressive with a dominant bass that bullies as much as it supports. Finding a sweet spot between metal and rock and borrowing punk’s energy is a formula that works well for Chameleon Technology.

‘No Safe Word’ starts the fight with that aforementioned bullet of bass before a more metallic romp tears through the rest of the song, interrupted by the occasional guitar melody… and because that bass intro was so good to set up the song, ChamTech breaks it down and starts it all up again to finish the song.

 

‘Serin’s Vending’ begins with a shout and rock blast before falling into Devo-like guitar pogo that is broken apart by a yell and rage chorus… with the whole affair blowing past the listener at 1:37 long.

‘Lifestyle Science’ keeps the intensity up with a manic strum of guitars and vocals that toggle between wide-eyed punk rants that battle full on shout fests, making the small moments that pull back with a breakdown and release strike with that much more force, and all under 2 minutes.

 

‘Self Repair’ has a more throw-back, old school rock-a-billy start before falling into a vaguely jazz-like tempo with meandering guitars which fall back into that more traditional rock stomp to bring up the intensity of the ‘softer’ song on this release. While lacking some of the intensity of the other tracks, this number shows a bit of range, while still sticking to his punkier attitude.

 

If Max Histrionic’s goal was to create the visual and sonic illusion of a complete, working three-piece… mission accomplished. The effect is so thorough, it might be worth showing this to a friend for their opinion to see if they can spot the fact that this is a solo artist. It’s refreshing to see a ‘solo’ talent work in the realm of more aggressive hard rock, as opposed to the sampler, key-board bedroom DJ’s that have polluted the idea of a lone person making music that sounds ‘bigger’ than an individual. Chameleon Technology proves it can be done, and done well.

Here’s some live ChamTech that illustrates how he pulls off a 3-man band effect live with only himself.

Some older ChamTech thrown in just for you… because we love you.