Chickenhawk / Modern Bodies

Chickenhawk
Modern Bodies
(Brew Records)

So, winter is once again upon us. Prepare yourselves for the inevitable sight of stressed out forty-somethings ravaging Debenhams, kids coming home from school covered in glitter-glue, and the nation collectively wheeling out its most unhinged lunatics to bask in the Holy Light radiating from Simon Cowell’s arse.
But as the X Factor sinks Britain’s music business deeper and deeper into its wintry coma, there is another story being quietly told behind the scenes: over on YouTube, a quiet army of 60,000 people have now viewed Chickenhawk’s ‘I Hate This, Do You Like It’ – a blood n’ guts zombie epic directed by Danny North. The time is right then, for the Leeds’ noiseniks to unleash their chaotic and feral LP ‘Modern Bodies’.
Album opener ‘Scorpieau’ sets the tone, a fierce, vocal-chord-shredding assault that shows instantly why the band chose it for inclusion on the Dance to the Radio compilation. ‘Son of CERN’ is equally boisterous and the first sign of proggier things to come: ‘Bottle Rocket’ sees the band at their most structurally ambitious, and also at their best, fusing their trademark hardcore with playful melodies and also, surprisingly, an acoustic guitar being used to strengthen (as opposed to soften) their sound.
‘Modern Bodies’ is the defibrillator, the slap in the face, the bucket of cold water that is so needed as people go on TV and offer their souls for the reward of creeping obscurity and being photographed buying milk. So, even though in years previous, we have fallen into the grip of the X Factor and the odious apparatus of the Cowell rule, we shall not flag or fail. We will fight it in the Corn Exchanges. We will fight it in the Barflys and the Academies – and we shall never surrender. This record is our battle cry.