Chumhuffer Slaughterhouse Five EP
I’m often reluctant to hear anything that comes out of NYC these days, because all too often the band is reaching for the lowest rung or overextending themselves for their art. However, CHUMHUFFER is bustin’ out of the gates with a perfectly crafted and accessible five-tune EP. I did a little research on CHUMHUFFER, and found to my delight that the band stole a copy of Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five novel from a huge chain store and remarkably used the themes of the book as the architecture for this EP. In other words, CHUMHUFFER, like Vonnegut, is plain spoken and incendiary with their self-reflection and observations on current affairs. This EP has East Coast AVAIL/SILENT MAJORITY elements while adding a little bit of the NYC oddball phrasing. Overall, I think this is a great EP that combines enough melody and hardcore to be much more than a one-time spinner.