THE CHISEL

After 50 years of frenzied activity, punk rock seems always destined to mean different things to different people. What it arguably should mean, at least if the genre has any point to it whatsoever, is the kind of music found on "What A Fucking Nightmare". Standard bearers for the UK scene's perma-flourishing return to rowdy, street punk values, THE CHISEL get it.

The London-based crew's 2021 debut album "Retaliation" was a snot-encrusted bolt from the blue. With echoes of everything from first wave firebrands UK SUBS and ANGELIC UPSTARTS through to the raw batterings of later bands like COCKNEY REJECTS, THE EXPLOITED and GBH, THE CHISEL's music was never designed to appeal to the pop-punk hordes. Free from sanitization or compromise, its songs scratched an itch that a lot of younger punk fans had not even considered. So for that alone, THE CHISEL deserve applause. Meanwhile, older punks were understandably thrilled to hear such a potent example of the real thing again. The subsequent buzz surrounding THE CHISEL may never quite penetrate the mainstream carapace, but after two years of riotous gigging, they have made a follow-up record that certainly deserves to. "What A Fucking Nightmare" is a riot — of course it is — but it's also a joy.

Fast and furious. Belligerent and intense. Loaded with great tunes and balls-to-the-wall sing-along choruses, "What A Fucking Nightmare" is just about perfect. THE CHISEL wear their working-class credentials with pride, and play everything as if their lives depended on it. In truth, it's genuinely hard to imagine what more a discerning punk aficionado could want from a new album in 2024. From smashed-bottle kickings like "No Gimmicks" and "Fuck 'Em", to more melodic (but no less snotty) fare like "Cry Your Eyes Out", "Those Days" and "Ain't Seen Nothing Yet", it is full of adrenalin, momentum and organic, celebratory aggro. Shrewdly produced to sound like a bomb going off in Charlie Harper's skull, "What A Fucking Nightmare" is all rough edges and pissed-off polemic, but there are some magnificent songs here, and an overall ensemble performance that thrums and crackles with unified commitment to the cause. Whether it's the mid-paced powerhouse of "Lying Little Rat (Propaganda)", the anthemic menace of "Bloodsucker" or the absurdly exciting "Vengeance Is For Me", THE CHISEL are a big-hearted and vital force. And it's no exaggeration to say that "What A Fucking Nightmare" is, at the very least, one of the finest British punk albums of the 21st century. Punk's still not dead, and it's getting hotter by the minute.