Chickenhawk are a Leeds four piece who sound as though they are completely enraged most of the time, making as they do a gloriously aggressive metal racket. Their song titles, by comparison, suggest they spend the other 10% of the time pissing themselves with laughter.

‘Dude-A-Tron’ mercilessly teases by opening the band’s self-titled debut with an outrageous electro flirtation. It’s a no more than a tease, however, this is a hard-as-nails, metal record.

First track proper, ushered in by its thumping solo drums is ‘Piglosaur’, wherein staccato guitars seem to scream and spit as much as the rasping vocals.

The vocal delivery throughout suggests the kind of person you don’t argue with, such as on ‘NASA Vs ESA’. It declares “THEY! WENT! TO THE MOON! MAN! IN A TIN CAN!” Quite.

‘My Name Is Egg’ begins as a magnificent sludge metal crawl before an uneasy Deftones-esque vocal morphs from calmness to crazed shrieking.

‘Minus Infinity Killswitch’ teases yet again with an extended acoustic introduction whose increasing sense of foreboding gradually gives way to more typically crunching guitars. The guitar solo four minutes in, as elsewhere on the album, recalls the likes of Mastodon, which is no bad thing.

‘Duel-a-Tron’ is a short country pastiche which twangs for thirty seconds or so until Kerosene brings the listener back to the chest-thumping aggression which is the album’s hallmark.

This debut is packed with numerous fantastic jagged riffs, solid drumming and some refreshingly batshit song titles. Recommended.

closeAuthor: Brian Raghoobur Name: Brian Raghoobur
Site:
About: I've never been to me.See Authors Posts (48)