Chimes Of Bayonets have a few EPs out already, but this is their first LP. I can’t speak to those earlier releases, but this is some pretty great stuff: taut, dynamic post-hardcore that speaks to 90s heroes like Hoover and Kepone, as well as the excellent if largely unremarked likes of Sicbay, Check Engine, Halo Perfecto and Stop It!! who pursued the style into the early 2000s. Big, chunky riffs clunk and groove, giving way to nimbler, more fluid parts that occasionally incorporate piano and saxophone. Every once in a while a particularly wiggly moment gives off a slight Party Of Helicopters vibe, while the singer’s strained but not unappealing honk recalls a very precise midway point between Fugazi’s ‘Long Division’ and ‘Heroes’ by Kerosene 454. All of these things are, if you ask me, definite points in their favour – check out tracks like ‘Channel Marker’ and ‘Cracked Igniter’ and see if you agree.
