There’s angry music that’s angry in tone, and there’s angry by trope. Chain Whip is just plum angry. When Josh shouts, the first instinct is to take a step back and watch for spit. It’s blunt, brutal and literally in your face.
This EP rips through 5 songs in 6 minutes. While it’s all short, fast, and loud, it’s also diverse enough that each song has its own vibe and hook. “Self-Destruct” is classic fiery hardcore, “Overstimulated” is a fist-in-the air circle pit, “Let’s Bomb East Van” thrives on vocal tradeoffs over a relentless beat and heavy cymbal crashes, “6 Day Weekend” is a working class anthem, and “How Many Chances/These Eyes” barrels and pummels.
This has strong shades of 1980s hardcore, but with crisper sound and more refined songwriting. The vocals call to mind shout-out Circle Jerks rage and confrontational Fear aggression at times but it’s really a sum of many influences over the years. Featuring members of Fashionism, Corner Boys, and Nervous Talk, it pays direct homage to the classics but with modern sensibility. It’s pure, emotional and cathartic, though the ruthless pounding rhythms make it best suited for angry moods than for the everyday rotation.
