We review something a little different today – the new album of controversially placed Chunk! No, Captain Chunk…
[tracklist]
1. Playing Dead
2. City of Light
3. The Other Line
4. Set It Straight
5. Pull You Under
6. What Goes Around
7. Worst Case Scenario
8. Twist The Knife
9. Get Lost, Find Yourself
10. Every Moment
[/tracklist]
[details]
[length]34:12[/length]
[record_label]Fearless[/record_label]
[release_date]17th May 2015[/release_date]
[/details]
Chunk! No, Captain Chunk are a band that caught my attention last year as being something just a little different from the regular Kerrang! (UK TV Channel) music video rotation. A pop-punk inspired band that made use of heavy tuned down guitars, almost djent-like breakdowns and transitional vocals between a sweet suburban kid serenade to devilish grunts that Jens Kidman could be proud of. Then I found out they were from France, being all the more interesting as no foreign pop-punk band to my knowledge has ever made a name for themselves in the United States where this band are starting to break through.
Why has this band intrigued me? It’s something different, and something that causes a lot of controversy within the metal community as to whether it really fits in or not. Pop-punk for me was my genre of choice in my early teens, which eventually bridged the gap to extreme music. Chunk! No, Captain Chunk seem to be a by-product of that personal bridging that never really existed back then. The predecessor album ‘Pardon My French‘ oddly ended up being one of my most listened-to albums last year, so I was keen to get a hold of this years release, ‘Get Lost, Find Yourself‘ to see how the band follow-up and evolve this new mish-mash genre known as ‘Easycore’.
The album opens with ‘Playing Dead‘, a track that pretty much epitomises what the band are all about. High registry pop-punk harmonies with a sudden crash of Drop-A crunching, all in the same bar as the violent kicking of double-bass drums. Of course lyrics all about teen problems and angst just like the mid 90’s / early 2000’s with a hint of deathcore when the breakdowns kick in.
When the album moves on to the next track of ‘City of Light‘, the real pop-punk comes out as almost the entire track stays influenced by the days of New Found Glory, Yellowcard et al leading to the first thing that’s noticeable in comparison to the preceding album – there is a lot more focus on the pop-punk elements than the metal. ‘Pardon My French‘ made a valiant effort to blend the two together where choruses and hooks were played both high and low creating a very unique and focused sound, but ‘Get Lost, Find Yourself‘ definitely puts more emphasis on recreating a traditional sound with heavy placements here and there. Examples of this are in ‘The Other Line‘, where the the song remains fairly pop-punky throughout and an djent-like breakdown being thrown in the end.
While not as heavy and diverse as the previous album, ‘Get Lost, Find Yourself‘ does have it’s fun elements about it with those catchy choruses such as ‘Pull You Under‘ and ‘Worst Case Scenario‘, and being the older person that I am now I know it gets downright cheesy at some points with some of the use of the lyrics, but the vocal work is extremely impressive with vocalist Bertrand Poncet emulating an American accent for the record, as well as making quick transitions to grunting where required – think what you want of it, but a vocalist who can pull this off does deserve a full round of applause.
It’s feel good music, and somebody looking for a little break in their traditional metal playlist cycle could enjoy this – but I do understand that a lot of people will detest it, especially that ‘Get Lost, Find Yourself‘ strays more towards the pop-punk side and teen angst that traditional metal lovers would have some very colourful language for. My personal verdict – I like it, but admittedly Chunk! No, Captain Chunk does not or is unlikely gain the acceptance as true metal, and even the band seem to have admitted that themselves with this album, and seem content with spearheading the apparent pop-punk revival with their own brand of music that does at least deserve commendation from all.
[verdict]Maybe[/verdict]
[why]If you are nostalgic about the poppunk days or need some feel good metal you may well enjoy this if not probably not for you[/why]
