Part Chimp - I Am Come (Album Review)

 

Part Chimp - I Am Come (2005)

My copy: 2005 press by Rock Action Records

As the millennium turned, rock music trends began to shift. In the U.S. a band called Lightning Bolt were establishing themselves as forerunners of modern noise-rock by pushing the music in increasingly weird directions. Across the pond, Mclusky were fighting the good fight with the 2002 Albini-produced Do Dallas, that wove dry, intelligent humor in between bursts of electrifying instrumental poundings. But over in London, another set of noise-crazed rockers got their start around the same time. 

Part Chimp’s humor is a touch more on the nose; see album title Chart Pimp, or song title “Hitler and Jews” from the same 2002 debut. But directness is just where a band calling themselves “Part Chimp” excels. As rock began softening and going the way of the Strokes real quick, Chart Pimp offered a bastion of sludge-y rock ferocity that mostly suffered from being less able to fully capture the sheer volume and brutality of Part Chimp’s heavier material. 

Then, I Am Come. The sequel album arrives three years later, but immediately bubbles into the frenzied awakening "Bakahatsu" with crippling audio precision. Don’t be fooled, I Am Come surely retains lo-fi edges, but the production is executed in such a way that exploding assaults like “Hello Bastards” reflect the crippling, distorting violence of the band’s notoriously loud live performances. 

There are softer moments such as the opening to “Do You Believe In Waiting To Die!” but these are expertly crafted appetizers for the ensuing roller coast dunks that await after the building pressure releases into waves of booming bass, drums and sizzling guitar. There are less inspiring moments on the record (“Punishment Ride” which serves more as a buffer before the intensity of its successor or the wailing, less focused jam session “Dr Horse, Pt. 2”) but the moments that rise above will blow your eyebrows clean off.

I once blasted “Bring Back The Sound” for a friend in his car, and his genuine reaction of “This is fucking rock and roll” is as worthy a testimony as I could conjure. Further down that line, “Fasto” maintains power with walls of indiscernible vocal mantras that could convince the most devout hippie to shut up and do their bidding. 

Most impressive on the album is the six minute journey “30,000,000,000,000,000 People” that cuts back and forth between both their catchiest melody and their heaviest thrashings, gradually building each noise section before sticking and reaching the album’s ultimate climax of sheer fury. Climax may be the right word, as one might wonder if these guys are so mad because they’re not getting any or perhaps because they’re just flat out deviants. Whatever the inspiration for the sonic beatings, the high points of this record can fuck apart the walls of my house, car or brain any day it wants.