Before Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! dropped their first album, they were basically just known as that French band with the daft name from The Goonies who were pop punk kids trying to mix it up on metal shows. Then said album, ‘Pardon My French’, came out and it was such an incendiary batch of Easycore awesomeness that slowly but surely the rock world started to take notice. In the process realising that, what the hell, French dudes can blast out a fine line in quality, super heavy pop punk after all, who knew. Now a couple of years later it’s time for that always tricky sophomore release, but can the Chunk boys continue to surpass expectations and prove they’re more than just a movie quote now that the pop-punk establishment has a better idea of what they’re about? Too right they can.’Get Lost, Find Yourself’ starts exactly where ‘Pardon My French’ left off, opener and first single Playing Dead’ blasts into existence with big chunky riffs before Bert Poncet’s clean vocals bound playfully into view with their distinctive gallic twang. Crunching guitar chords herald the arrival of one of Chunk’s trademark titanic genre hoping choruses, seamlessly blending a blinding pop-punk hook with bludgeoning metal guitars.
‘City Of Light’ continues in much the same vein, resplendent with the super “posi” defiant lyrics which have become the calling card of the heavy end of pop punk. And if you were wondering, yes there are plenty of references to not being stopped, leaving this town and the obligatory pyromaniac threat to torch the place which is oddly prevalent in easycore. Sure this might make it sound a tad cliché but when its delivered with this much conviction its pretty enthusing stuff.
‘Set it Straight’ sees Chunk as outwardly poppy as they’ve ever been, with a jangly clean guitar intro and gorgeous harmony gang vocal. Synth fills interspersed with the heavy guitars add to the sheen, while the latter ensure things haven’t changed too much. The track also features a storming breakdown into chorus reprise section that would have the scene’s biggest bands casting envious glances.
As ‘Get Lost, Find Yourself’ progresses there’s a real sense of a band coming to understand their own growth both musically and in their position in the industry. No song personifies this better then ‘Pull You Under’. “We have a right to be here, don’t let them pull you down” thunders Poncet, as much to himself and his band as the listener, on a track that serves as both a call to arms and Chunk announcing themselves as genuine contenders to the top tier of pop punk and heavy rock acts.
Later, on ‘What Goes Around’, the band unusually ditch the metal completely in favour of an impassioned emo pop-rock approach that’s highlighted by a sweetly judged floaty backing vocal in the chorus.
For a few bewildering seconds Chunk go unashamedly pure pop. Jaunty acoustic guitars and whistling saunter ‘Worst Case Scenario’ into life, before it explodes in an unrestrained attack of guitars and gang vocals that build into easily one of the record’s most consciousness infecting choruses. If the band have any sense this track will absolutely be a single in the near future.
To say this is a band who’ve built their rep on keeping their bouncy anthemic pop punk nice and heavy, Chunk pull acoustic effort and title track ’Get Lost Find Yourself’ with aplomb. Intricately nailed acoustic guitar lines back a mature and rounded vocal performance from Poncet, who shows he can put every bit as much feeling into his clean vocals as his throat shredding ones.
That just leaves it to ‘Every Moment’ to close out the album with a slice of the band’s vintage sound and formula, switching back and forth between hardcore style verses, and bigger more accessible verses and another hard hitting breakdown section.
There are no two ways about it, ‘Get Lost Find Yourself’ is Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! literally finding themselves and realising they can make a record worthy of being heavyweight players around the globe in a way no French band ever has been before. With the added depth and variation in sound, Chunk have taken their already potent formula and made it check every single box a band of their type should and then some. Get ready world the French are coming and they’ve got the hooks and riffs to gun squarely for the likes of A Day To Remember’s unassailable spot as the kings of Easycore.
4.5/5
‘Get Lost Find Yourself’ by Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! is released on 18th May on Fearless Records.
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Words by Dane Wright (@MrDaneWright)
