BANDS:

Punk & Ska
80's New Wave/
Post-Punk/
College Bands
90's & Beyond
Virginia, North
Carolina, & DC

Part Chimp: Chart Pimp
[Monitor]

Somewhere buried between sludge and buzzsaw guitar drives, between metal and headaches, lies London boys Part Chimps train-wreck of a sound. Their new album jolts into motion at the first notes conception and dirges its way through somewhere around ten tracks, ending in the puddled mess from which it started. Basically, two of these ten are noisy, rhythmic feedback interludes, but well still count them as tracks, seeing as how they are numbered and they just work cohesively. Ones almost like a late, quick burst of an intermission ushering the listener into come-down territory, while the other ties up the album leaving behind only a grim, fleeting tombstone. As tracks burn to their end, they either snuff out or decompose into shards of broken, sporadic pieces. Rolling walls of guitar noise wash across the albums borders leaving a wake thicker than that left behind by any Trail of Dead groan. This is sludgy, slurred garage guitar attack, captured by rundown, rotting mics feeding a finicky analog recorder. Lo-fi sleaze at its raunchiest, if you will.

This album reminds me of the valiant efforts made by the pioneering 75-77 northern garage punk bands who carved out their own territory through persistence and belief. Theres conviction, honesty and raw feeling in this recording. Part Chimp embodies that loose, downward spiral, beer fueled, rusty crank turned rock that tears through the very lining of its own recording. The vocals are more cried and screamed out than sung underneath the thick muck created through high-level overdriven, pummeling guitar noise almost in a struggle to be heard. Even the drums seem a bit run off in the distance by the menacing crunch.

This album is definitely worth it for those fans of muck rock or agitated sludge guitar work. If youre a little unsure of a bit of noise or dont like cranking your speakers to get the full effect, I would steer a bit clear. For their shows, Im thinking even someone as deaf as I am is gonna need some plugs. This album is handed to us by the Monitor/Rock Action labels; so if youre familiar with these, I think youll understand the noise levels were talking about here. Enjoy, and lets go see these guys live.

This album can be purchased at Amazon and CD Universe

Part Chimp Official Website

More Album Reviews

About LOTD        Contact/Staff        Advertise        Home

All content  LEFT OFF THE DIAL 2001-2005. All rights reserved.