After the weirdo-grind odyssey that was 2023’s ‘Swatta’ it kinda makes sense that Chepang might want to dial things back a notch.
Thing is, ‘dialling things back’ for Chepang still represents a spleen-rupturing feat by most peoples’ standards, and ‘Jhyappa’ hardly slips down like a cool glass of water. Instead we’re treated to a nigh-on incessant blast of bulldozing grindcore, the band mixing up ugly, Nails-esque whumps with Nasum-style blasts and shattered moments of Discordance Axis dissonance. The band also seem to have a Noise Guy in tow nowadays, but to the best of my knowledge he only plays on one track here – who knows what the future holds, but maybe there’ll be some Full Of Hell / Column Of Heaven antics afoot in the future?
It might be slightly easier to wrap your head around than ‘Swatta’, but that’s only if you can somehow survive with your head intact in the first place. To be honest I’d say the odds aren’t good – maybe use one of the brief, deceptively chipper Nepalese pop interludes as an opportunity to dig a deep hole in the ground and hide.