The Chisel
What A Fucking Nightmare
Pure Noise Records
Born from the same fertile London punk scene as Chubby & The Gang, The Chisel look set to follow a similar trajectory and take their quintessentially English brand of aggro around the world. By chanting “What a fucking nightmare” over a caustic soundscape, the opening (and title-track) captures the existential angst of modern life…and all within 40-seconds! It is typical of this quintet’s modus operandi; they don’t use two notes (or words) when one will suffice and that makes their sound all the more powerful. Seguing nicely into ‘No Gimmicks’, The Chisel are about as subtle as a Dr Marten to the groin and their songs deliver an equivalent punch. They don’t go big on subtleties, but with a name like The Chisel, you kind of knew that on the way in. What they do serve up, however, are hard-edged songs that come liberally soaked in melody and a strong song sensibility that renders them very earworm-y. These tracks are sure to transfer well to the live environment and you can almost see the fists pumping the air and hundreds of voices screaming along to their rabble-rousing anthems. Oi! Oi!
Review by Peter Dennis