Chest Pain – WELTSCHMERZ

Chest Pain is a band. Chest Pain has been jamming since 2008. Formed in Austin, Texas, the band has played a couple of tours, tons of local shows, and put out a few releases. Their final release, WELTSCHMERZ (translated from German, it means WORLD PAIN) is also their first LP and it’s being put out by To Live A Lie Records.

The album plays like an ode to the genre itself. It’s very (dare-I-say) meta-powerviolence. It’s self-reflective upon the genre and scene rather than the sometimes over-played out material that related bands will almost force out at times it seems.

The tracks on this album go from being about the lack of all ages show spaces here in Austin to your favorite local trendster. There is a song about skateboarding. There is a song about homophobes. The band was able to write an album that featured anything you could think of being on a powerviolence album and they accomplished this in 16 short tracks, the longest being “Ghola” (2:54) which at the end when played on vinyl, enters an infinite loop with the last two chugs and feedback.

Instrumentally, It’s superb. There isn’t too much feedback, there isn’t too little. The guitarists are able to get very weird at times and pull it off completely. My favorite song, “Shut In” is a track that you just can’t help wanting to hit the pit to. It’s explosive but so is every other track honestly. It feels like there isn’t a single part of this release, whether audible or visible on the vinyl, that the band did not put there intentionally. No mistakes, no accidents. That’s what makes this release all the better, the band is very serious about the art of DIY.

If you’re a fan of bands like Iron Lung, Capitalist Casualties, Hatred Surge or even Gas Chamber, you would definitely have an appreciation for this band and LP.