Six more tracks from Vancouver’s Chain Whip, and of course they kick ass. The lean, blade-like guitars and taut dynamics make me think of Career Suicide or Regulations, but the mean, shitty attitude and surly delivery seem more in line with a band like Negative Approach. Each swift, tightly-wound blurt packs in hooks and smart, unforeseen guitar parts, while their disdain for everything around them is as evident as something coughed messily up and ground into the carpet with the heavy tread of a boot. Three of the tracks popped up on their demo and one’s a Subhumans (Canadian, of course) cover, but it’s all as venomously urgent as you could hope for – a brisk, spiteful dose of hardcore punk that might sound like the early 80s but is as urgent as today needs it to be.
