Friday 21 October 2016

ELCAM ~ CHUNK .... review


French instrumental stoner rock duo ElCam are no strangers to the pages of Desert Psychlist, the drum and guitar combo's EP "Shaft" was reviewed here back in June last year (2015). Since the release of "Shaft" the band have been busy honing their chops on the French live circuit and writing and recording songs for a brand new EP entitled "Chunk" due for release November 15th 2016.


"Chunk" sees ElCam continue the path taken on 2015's "Shaft", of Karma To Burn-like heavy fuzzed riffage and pounding rhythmic percussion, but this time adding into that mix touches of post-rock structuring and prog-like complexity. The first four tracks "Claw", "Knife", "Occult" and "Fork" more or less tread a path of pedal heavy effected guitar riffs and occasional solo's furiously layered over backdrops of thunderous percussion, with the two musicians shifting gears through a myriad of differing dynamics never allowing the grooves to stagnate or become repetitious. It is however on the, loosely conceptual, last three songs "Chunk Pts 1,2 & 3" that ElCam really get to show their ever growing maturity , with Mathieu Leignel (drums) and Jey Feviet (guitar) stretching out their ideas by weaving into their fuzz elements of space and psychedelic ambiance as well as soundbytes of spoken narrative, with "Pt.1" and "Pt.3" more or less working as an intro and outro to the more complex and beautifully atmospheric "Pt.2".


ElCam have come along way from the heavy fuzz'n'roll of their first EP "Orchard" but it has been a journey that has seen the duo grow both as songwriters and as musicians a growth and maturity that is mirrored in the seven tracks that make up "Chunk".
Check out a preview here....

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