Brooklyn, New York’s Chain Gang Grave announces the November 13 release of its second EP, Bury Them and Keep Quiet. Stream opening track “Green Star Eye” via Noisey, here.
Fronted by a singer known as Young Al Bundy, Chain Gang Grave rides a line between dark and light, wrath and yearning. Acidic noise rock and raw metal power combine with white-knuckle hardcore punk in music that mostly wallows in subterranean grime but can also soar high above. There are nods to the noisy stomp of Scratch Acid and The Birthday Party, and to the primitive slithering of Autopsy, but what really wows is how the wild-eyed desperation of Rites of Spring seems to possess this young band. Chain Gang Grave’s racket is a soulful one. The sense of urgency is unrelenting as songs writhe and wriggle, from the dismal to the driving to the triumphant.
Lyrically, Bundy wrestles with “the battle between individuality and community in the warzone of the psyche,” in his own words. EP opener “Green Star Eye” sets the tone with these lines: “I’m waiting for a sign / And I’ve come to realize / That I just can’t put my finger on it / A boiling unrest between my eyes / And the worlds on either side.” Bury Them and Keep Quiet follows the band’s 2014 debut EP, When Your Friends Become Cops, also self-released.
Of the debut, CVLT Nation posted this review: “As noisy and loud as it is dark and weird… This EP could please fans of Merzbow or Cult Ritual as easily as it could please fans of Cold Cave and Flipper.” Bury Them and Keep Quiet was recorded and mixed by the band in a basement in South Brooklyn. It was mastered by James Plotkin of Khanate and OLD. Chain Gang Grave is one of the most exciting new voices in the Brooklyn scene. Peers include Couch Slut and Lubrication. While most of the Brooklyn bands of today consist of transplants new to the city, Chain Gang Grave’s members – Bundy, guitarist Andrew Lanza, bassist Josh Poveda, and drummer Jason Bennett – have the distinction of being natives.