Labels: Give Praise – Grindfather Productions – To Live A Lie
Review by: Alex Deller
Love the genre as I do, the prospect of a 96-track powerviolence discography was, frankly, exhausting. I mean, c’mon, the Capitalist Casualties comp that Slap A Ham put out is essential, but it’s also a lot to take in, and that was ‘only’ 74 songs…
Credit to Columbia’s Chulo, then, that this damn thing never gets dull as it barges through an array of sub-minute rippers, the band adhering to standard powerviolence parameters but keeping the songs varied and the energy levels high. Dual vocals burn and roar, guitars sound like trashcans colliding and the band rely as much on low, stumbling lurches as whiteknuckle blasts of speed. While there are nods to the likes of Infest and Neanderthal, the overriding comparison for me is Capitalist Casualties … it’s something about the vehemence, the belligerence and the sense that the music could crumple and collapse inward at any given moment. While such comparisons might be ten-a-penny there’s something authentic that elevates Chulo beyond rote first-wave PV homage, and if you pulled any one of these tracks at random and told me it was a lost cut from some shelved Reality or Cry No Cry Later instalment I’d nod along without question.