Band: Chief Bromden | Album: In/tense Logic | Genre: Art rock, Post-punk | Year: 2024
From: Czechia | Label: Full Moon Forum
For fans of: Atsuko Chiba, The Mars Volta, RX Bandits
Chief Bromden is a Czech post-punk act that integrates a lot of progressive rock into their music. They’ve got inventive, unorthodox structures, and their instrumental passages are exciting and masterfully played. I liked their debut album Slunovrat a lot, so I was excited to hear their follow-up. In/tense Logic comes about four years after their debut (and two years after their Noise Forever EP, which I simply just never got around to).
In/tense Logic opens with jittery ostinato bass and electric piano on “Exploze”. Hand percussion and funky, muted guitar lend a unique character. The vocals are weirdly askew, with the multiple layers raggedly hanging off one another. Things disintegrate a bit near the midpoint, but this chaos is only enhanced by Chief Bromden’s icy post-punk style. This track features vocals both from the band’s usual singer and from Slovak guest musician Edúv Syn, and I really like that this cut is sung in Czech and Slovak. The Slavic languages often sound a little silly to me in a rock context (Russian feels like it has too many syllables, and Polish sounds like a Frenchman trying to speak Russian), but this sounds great. I really like hearing the sound of languages other than English.
Much like on Slunovrat, the rest of the album is sung in English. (Not that I pay attention to lyrics, or anything like that.) “Leadership” is tight and math-y. The rhythm is unsteady and itchy, and it tumbles forward incessantly. By Chief Bromden standards, this is a pretty straightforward cut, but it’s strong.
“Aulin Boy”, in contrast, has a more relaxed rhythm to it. Synth loops and a groovy bassline drive it along. The final 90 seconds of this song feature some very strong Mars Volta flavors. Everything cascades powerfully and effortlessly, and the inclusion of saxophone at the very, very end acts as the perfect bit of punctuation.
“This Life”, the longest song on the album, takes its time getting going. Lush synth pads and a strangely detuned-sounding synth lead make this song’s opening feel hazy and just out of reach. Venturing into its second third, the band veers off onto an astral voyage. Rolling toms and fluttering synths float along before crashing back to Earth with biting guitars and impassioned vocals. I really love the guitar tones here. They snarl through layers of wah, providing a rich backing for singer Štěpán Pařízek.
Following this space rock-inspired epic, “Drugs” is a silly, sub-two minute interlude that includes a wealth of musical ideas. It’s oddly catchy and features influences ranging from glam rock to post-hardcore to doom metal. This interlude is followed by “Carcass of Time”, which slows things down. This is one of the less-proggy cuts on the album, but it’s still a bit of sophisticated post-punk. I really like the twinkling properties of the synths during the verses and the slow build in its middle.
“Venomous Touch” features an earworm-y hook and guest vocals from Barbora Hora. I’d consider it one of the weaker cuts on the album, but it’s still a solid song in isolation. This is followed by “Arrow-Impaled”, which is probably my least-favorite song on In/tense Logic. It isn’t necessarily bad, but its first half is a bit underwhelming when compared to everything else on this release. The second half is stronger, with some fun instrumental moments, but the vocal performance is somewhat weak.
In/tense Logic closes with “Velvet Hell”. After something of a slow intro, it plunges into an infectious, off-kilter, synth-powered passage. The minimal orchestration serves to emphasize what few elements are present. The song’s conclusion is somewhat sudden and jarring. I do wish it didn’t hit me with quite disorienting force, but maybe that’s what they were going for.
Chief Bromden’s second full length album is pretty solid. The guitars are sharp and angular, and there’s clearly a ton of emotional weight behind the music. I like both post-punk and progressive rock a lot, so it’s nice to be able to find acts that synthesize them this well.
Score: 78/100
The Elite Extremophile 