New York based three piece, Chimes Of Bayonets, released their first album, Replicator, in February of this year after a string of EP's dating back to 2018. There comes a point in most bands career that warrants the need for an album over an EP. It's a way to really showcase themselves and give the fans something substantial to sink their teeth into and Replicator certainly fits the bill. It is also worth noting that rather just lumping their EP's together, which seems to happen a lot these days, Replicator is 8 new tracks, with the exception of "Human Mascot" which was featured on their live EP Zero Three Zero Seven. Only this version has had time to be refined and studio recorded making it sound a lot cleaner than the live version.
Replicator is 35 minutes of technically skilled post punk/hardcore that takes you through a range of emotions with bursts of fast paced angst interspersed with moments of calm and tranquillity, sometimes within one track. Stand out tracks for me are the newly recorded, fresh faced version of "Human Mascot" and the more chilled offering "Channel Marker". When I say chilled it is loosely termed as the tempo has a more steady, ska chill to it with a more melodic vocal line than others and champions a punchy bass line. For fans of bands such as Refused, Fugazi, Jawbox and maybe a little Propagandhi these guys are for you. Their experimental style means they cant be completely pigeon holed but you can hear these influences especially in the vocals. "The Fall of Grammer" is a great chuggy punk number with a hint of piano, and final track "Index" proves to be an epic end to an album they have every right to be proud of.
I have only recently been introduced to Chimes Of Bayonets, by doing this review and they have impressed me. They have an interesting sound and because they are so talented at their instruments the technical creativity makes you sit up and listen as you are never too sure where a song is going to go. Their artwork for Replicator and their other EP's are quite edgy and Avant Garde, they have a knack of being fairly standard by using band photos but also interesting at the same time. Whilst I was checking out their socials I did notice something a little odd. Their profile picture is far too familiar for my liking. Now this is not a criticism but more of an observation and I really hope it's just a well meaning tribute but it's a blatant copy of Rocket From The Crypt Group Sounds album cover and I cannot be the first person to notice this.
In conclusion Replicator is a great addition to their back catalogue and well worth checking out. Check out their Bandcamp page and maybe hop over to facebook if nothing else then to just check out the profile pic.
