Premiere: Chain Gang Grave return with “We Fight Entropy” & “Suffer For Your Art”
Don’t feel gross enough yet today? Get your ears in here and check out an exclusive stream of two new Chain Gang Grave tracks.
I’m guessing it’s something about living in New York City that has produced a whole modern crop of extreme music’s weirdo heavies. Toilet Ov Hell favorites Artificial Brain (riding a wave of acclaim from their newest album) and Pyrrhon (interview) are both standard bearers of that which is odd and menacing; both bands are within spitting distance of Brooklyn natives Chain Gang Grave. In case you missed it (and if you did, shame on you) Chain Gang Grave released their sterling Bury Them and Keep Quiet at the tail end of 2015. It’s equal parts riffy, infectious hardcore and leering noise rock. On their new digital single, the band carries on in that direction but goes further down the rabbit hole.
Chain Gang Grave succeed in the old bait and switch on “We Fight Entropy”. Initially “Entropy” seems pretty straightforward, opening behind punishing percussion and gang shout-esque vocals. As it progresses, things get more claustrophobic, the timing gets more off-kilter, and near the end there is a minute of spoken lyrics (or samples?) that wouldn’t be out of place on a Cursed record. “Suffer For Your Art” has queasy written all over it. It’s sludgy as shit, drenched in reverb, and the tone/sound immediately brings to mind Melvins meets Doomsday Student.
Taken from CGG’s guitarist, Andrew Lanza:
These two tracks were recorded at Converse Rubber Tracks with engineer Aaron Bastinelli in 2016. Additional sounds recorded by Jason Bennett in 2017. Mixed by Jason Bennett at his house, and mastered by James Plotkin. Only to be digitally released for now, physical release TBD.
If these tracks are any indication of what’s next for the band, I’m looking forward to hearing what Chain Gang Grave can do with a full length record. Keep on the lookout for their debut full length, due out later this year. Head over to their Bandcamp to pick up a digital album, tee shirt, or cassette and follow them on Facebook.
