Bristol’s CHUPACABRA fans the embers to…well, wet ash with ‘Burn The Clowns’, a clone of Angela Gossow-era ARCH ENEMY’s weakest material. The mix is too cluttered to single out any instrument, even if I wanted to, and leading into ‘F.T.T.D.’. I’m not sure where I’ve heard that opening riff before (I have. Definitely. And I believe it’s off MASTODON’s Leviathan. If so, shame the fuck on you.), but the solo at the start ain’t half bad. Soon enough we’re back in the bog, a jumbled mix and nothing remarkable whatsoever aside from a repeat of the song that came before. Half the problem here, methinks, is that all instruments except lead guitar and vocals are handled, fumblingly, by one Nige Savage. Clearly a case of “shoulda waited until we had a full band”. And, honestly, probably shouldn’t have, even then.
Falsified Wet Ashes. I wish the Goat-Sucker would’ve taken my eardrums.
Review By: Lord Randall
CHUPACABRA
Fortified With Ashes [EP]
Independent