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“I somehow missed that the Chicago hardcore punks C.H.E.W. broke up, but if we get Stress Positions out of the deal, I ain't mad about it. Stephanie Brooks now fronts the ex-C.H.E.W. dudes, but it's not a cut and paste job — where C.H.E.W. relied on speed and swagger, Stress Positions wide-screens the pit's psychedelic vista. There's a little more metal riffage and mid-tempo tension to maximize the intensity so that, once the band revs to hallucinatory level, the impact is devastating.” -Lars Gotrich
Our take: We carried an earlier cassette version of the debut EP from this Chicago hardcore band, and Iron Lung has stepped up to immortalize these tracks on wax. According to the description, Stress Positions features everyone from C.H.E.W. aside from the singer… C.H.E.W. was a great band, and Stress Positions is off to a great start with Walang Hiya. As with C.H.E.W., the beefy drums are a highlight, with lots of snare and tom rolls that feel like quick gut punches, and interesting riffing that studiously avoids anything that feels familiar or unexciting. I love Stress Positions’ approach to mid-paced parts. Rather than having breakdowns that play some variation of one of the song’s main riffs in half-time, their mid-paced parts (which most songs have) are well-developed and rhythmically distinct from the other parts of the songs. It’s like Stress Positions is both a great hardcore band and a great noise rock band, only their noise rock side comes out on the breakdowns. That is until the final track, “Unholy Intent,” which stays slow for the entirety of its three-minute runtime, not stomping as is the current hardcore fashion, but dragging you through the mud a la early Swans. An outstanding record.
Our take: We carried an earlier cassette version of the debut EP from this Chicago hardcore band, and Iron Lung has stepped up to immortalize these tracks on wax. According to the description, Stress Positions features everyone from C.H.E.W. aside from the singer… C.H.E.W. was a great band, and Stress Positions is off to a great start with Walang Hiya. As with C.H.E.W., the beefy drums are a highlight, with lots of snare and tom rolls that feel like quick gut punches, and interesting riffing that studiously avoids anything that feels familiar or unexciting. I love Stress Positions’ approach to mid-paced parts. Rather than having breakdowns that play some variation of one of the song’s main riffs in half-time, their mid-paced parts (which most songs have) are well-developed and rhythmically distinct from the other parts of the songs. It’s like Stress Positions is both a great hardcore band and a great noise rock band, only their noise rock side comes out on the breakdowns. That is until the final track, “Unholy Intent,” which stays slow for the entirety of its three-minute runtime, not stomping as is the current hardcore fashion, but dragging you through the mud a la early Swans. An outstanding record.