Labels: Arctic Radar – Quesuerte! – Shove – Tumorati Di Dio
Review by: Oli Saunders
Violent Breakfast toured the UK twice and soon after the second time in May 2008 they split up. I grew fonder of them over time as they evolved and by the time they broke up I thought they had really nailed their screamo sound – the ‘Nient’altro Che Tempo’ LP is pretty damn great. They were always good live too. Furthermore, I actually had no idea of their demise until late last year when I found out that there was a band called Chambers containing three members of VB. Maybe they released a demo, I’m not sure, but aside from that they have gone straight onto releasing this five song album.
Chambers sound is very interesting to me. It is as if VB calmed down a lot and incorporated post rock elements into their music – but in a good way and there remain vocals throughout. The screams have been replaced by a desperate noisy wailing that I am really receptive to. The instruments are much slower paced and drawn out. At times it’s pretty hypnotic, at other times it gets a little bit boring. Well I found the latter on the first side but as I listen to the second side right now it is pretty much blowing me away. I am trying to think of Italian bands that are being ripped off slightly but whilst there may be some influences from, say, Magdalene, Neil On Impression, and My Vain Therapy, the sound is quite distinct. Making lots of comparisons with VB is unfair too, but the parallels are there.
Overall, you won’t be able to stumble around to this like you used to be able to do to VB, but you may be able to immerse yourself in the music that good post rock allows. I reckon live this will be pretty amazing too. The lyrics are often repeated which works well. They are generally pretty cool and abstract but there are some pretty ridiculous ones in the first song. Really simple artwork too but I like it, overall this is definitely worth checking out.
14th February 2010