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This
excellent release by the German American band Chispas is
exactly what I needed in order to get back into writing
mode. About every third week I get tired from so much
heaviness. My ears demand rest or silence for at least
two days. Else, something quick, loud and abrasive
usually does the trick. A jolt back to the right
mindframe. A shock back to the edge of my seat. Which is
exactly what Relax! Nothing is Under Control did
for me. Matter of fact, I have been on a Chispas
(Spanish for sparks) kick for four days. With no writing
and zero webzine preoccupations I’ve listened to it over
and over again. And with each subsequent spin their
melodies became more obvious and the guitar lines grew
as bigger hooks. I grew fonder of their brutish nuances
and invigorated by their relentless pace. This is
anarcho punk of the highest order.
It was damn
near impossible to find information about Chispas. No
interviews, just a handful of reviews and no picture of the
band. All I know is that they have members living in Germany and
in the US and that they formed in 1999, toured Germany,
Switzerland and Mexico and released a few splits. Relax!
Nothing is Under Control was recorded in May 2006, issued in
the same year by several labels and then the band went kaput
shortly after. Also, their MySpace page only lists one friend.
Whatever
their story is it no longer matters. Relax! Nothing is Under
Control is an excellent record. Its eighth songs run rampant
at hardcore fast speed and have a pretty melodic angle. There
are two vocalists, the female who sounds totally angry and in
your face and her male counterpart who sounds more controlled
and limited in range and balances things out nicely. At times
they spew their lines together, but mostly they trade ‘em off.
The guitars go super fast, small riffs repeated dozens of times
in the span of a couple of minutes, zero solos but occasionally
a second guitar line elevates the verses, like during “Culture
Shock”. This is the good stuff.
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