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EP review: Chumhuffer – ‘Slaughterhouse Five’

The Long Island quintet address the state of today's world on EP number three!

This may only be the third EP from Chumhuffer, but these are no whippersnappers we’re dealing with here; these guys have all paid their dues in various (mainly New York based) other bands, and my goodness, they’ve got the chops to prove it.

Named after Kurt Vonnegut’s classic novel, ‘Slaughterhouse Five’ is a perfect soundtrack for (and commentary on) the disquieting times we live in. In the words of the band: “With everything happening around us, it feels like we’re unstuck in time—just like Vonnegut’s character Billy Pilgrim. This record explores the battle between past and future, reality and illusion, and what it means to hold onto your own sense of morality.”.

An East Coast band with a whole lotta California in their sound, evoking the likes of Fear, Black Flag, The Descendents and especially the Dead KennedysShawn Refuse’s vocal resemblance to the DK’s Jello Biafra is truly uncanny.

All five tracks are great, but the pick of the bunch is arguably ‘Miami’. An anthem for those who go it alone in life, it bursts into a warp-speed hardcore sprint – with bonus guitar shredding – around the halfway mark, and damn near had me starting a one-man circle pit in my kitchen.

The whole thing clocks in at just over 10 minutes; a short, sharp, invigorating blast of vintage punk with a modern melodic hardcore twist. They sounded like they needed to make it as badly as you need to hear it, and believe us, when it comes to bands who are injecting fresh vitality into old sounds, you could do a lot worse than Chumhuffer.

  1. Slaughterhouse
  2. Miami
  3. Ways
  4. Trawler
  5. Burning
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