Chain Cult - Shallow Grave

Athens’ Chain Cult wastes no time, opening the album with a catchy chorus-laden guitar riff that would sound just as much at home on a new-wave record as on a dark melodic punk record. Coming out of the Greek punk scene a new Chain Cult record is especially head-line grabbing. Their first full length, following a great Demo 12″and 7” “Isolated” from 2018, recorded after gigging almost non-stop for two years, all over Europe; and you can tell, the exercise has given them a huge boost, tighter and more confident than before, fearlessly taking-on big tunes and ambitious song structures, this is an LP that has class written all over it. Recorded at Ignite Music by George Christoforidis during May and July of 2019, Shallow Grave shows Chain Cult’s post punk is militant and idealistic, putting music to a very dark and bleak time and place. Anthemic song writing and adventurous drumming tie the sound together. You can hear echoes of early The Cure, The Sound, Second Empire Justice era Blitz or Wipers in their music but also the passion and conviction is rawer, more energetic and straightforward, definitely my cup of tea. 

Chain Cult – Isolated

Chain Cult’s debut single came out summer 2018 and is a great successor to their really powerful demo (also available if you ask for it). The band had been around for just a year but already they had managed to do as much as most DIY punk bands do in five years—two releases and a European tour! Chain Cult play dark and broody postpunk, as so many other bands do, but they play it with a hardcore-indebted ferocity that makes their music hit hard. They have a way with anthemic choruses and snaky, atmospheric riffage. On Isolated, Chain Cult have upped the intensity and dark atmospherics. The sound is bigger and more focused. The guitar work is haunting and flanged and the rhythm section locks in, keeping the energy high. It sits somewhere between a more up-tempo Killing Joke and Warsaw while remaining a band of their time. Short, sincere and to the point—this is a record that ticks most boxes for me. Dark, uplifting tunes with lyrics about personal and political topics, with pretty catchy, yet abrasive sing-alongs.