Description
Phillys own Chained Bliss set tongues a-waggin back in 2019 with their Stained Red cassette EP, gathering more than a few comparisons to the Wipers early racket in the process. Well, now theyre back with a debut album that seems to have skipped right ahead from Is This Real? to Over The Edge: this self-titled LP has all the gut-punching ramalama, knockabout gutsnglory of that first tape, with added layers. Melodic guitar lines come perilously close to jangling over crunching power chords, while furiously yelped choruses give way to sumptuously put-together breakdown sections that catch you off guard and kick you in the shins before legging it down the street.
Chained Bliss clearly love scrappy, skatey garage rock (echoes of Agent Oranges Living In Darkness abound) as much as they love pushing that raucous clatter into something spacious – the meditative sections that flow effortlessly into absolute ripper Pillars Of Abuse are as unexpected as the thoughtful but head-spinningly energetic sections that bring Creative Seizure so thrillingly to life. Other times theyre just as happy to keep you careening towards the pit with two-minute bangers, but thats the beauty of this record: its never smarter than when its playing dumb, and the rest of the time its just pretty damn smart.
Heres a challenge: can you listen to Ominous Lifes gnarly pop without raising those fists of yours skywards and landing a firm thump on the air? Or Drifters swaggering stomp? Or, or, or ahhh hell, you get what Im saying here. Every single cut slays, every single hook snags itself on your brain. Youll come back for more, and more, and more. Are Chained Bliss your new favourite band? Well, gee, weve never met and I dont know what you like and its not for me to say but on the other hand, yes. Yes, they are. Theyre heading straight for your heart and they aint budging.
Will Fitzpatrick
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