Part Chimp ‘Thriller’ CD 2009

So you think you know heavy!!! Electric Wizard, Slayer, Kyuss…forget about it, Part Chimp up the heavy stakes in no uncertain terms and, get this, they ain’t even a metal band!!!!

Michael Jackson this certainly isn’t. Part Chimp peddle a massive wall of fuzz that is as dense as it is impenetrable. Admittedly Kyuss spring to mind at times but so do The Melvins, Mudhoney, Neurosis and My Bloody Valentine. This is an album that is as intense and suffocating as it is beautiful…like drowning in the naked flesh of a dozen obese chicks!!!

From the start of opening track “Trad” the clattering drums lay down a thick groove for the guitars to ride on. The sound frequently teetering on the brink of atonal collapse before being dragged back from the edge. Next track “FFFFF” is a sucker punch to the nuts while “Sweet Tea” weaves a synchronised melody between the guitars and vocals…in a sea of even more fuzz!!! It isn’t all a prison rape of distortion. Part Chimp do allow you to come up for air and pull up your trousers for some respite as they do on “Supermoody” and the opening of the fantastically named final track “Starpiss” but the window of opportunity to escape is short lived and the mighty power of the riff prevails dragging you back into its murky depths.

Throughout this marathon excursion into the limits of distortion the vocals float ethereally above the mire in a plaintive howl that pulls the chaos together with some mesmerising and hypnotic melodies. A true collision of the ugly and the beautiful.

That this album is released on Mogwai’s label is no real surprise, continuing as it does that band’s exploration into the extremes of sound. The metal kids may turn their noses up at this but if you want heavy, and I mean real heavy then this is definitely worth a listen…or several!!!

Label: Rock Action Records
Website: www.partchimp.com

Scribed by: Ollie Stygall