Where they from?
France, just France, on their Bandcamp it literally just says “France,” not a specific city, just “France.” My brother and his wife just spent three weeks in France for their honeymoon. I’m very happy for them. They bought a piece of art in Nice that my Dad said was reminiscent of some of the works of renowned street artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and I could not help but concur with this astute observation. I know my Dad, brother and sister-in-law all read this column with extreme regularity, so I figured giving them a shout-out would be nice. HA! GET IT? LIKE, “NICE”? I am a comedy god.
What do they sound like?
The gonzo-est of the most gonzo grindcore imaginable.
Why the hype?
This band has sort of been on my periphery (the concept, not the djent band) for a while due to the fact that they are part of that new wave of French grindcore bands along with Warfuck and Whoresnation who are honestly putting out some of the best fast music in the world right now. But due to my overwhelming love affair with those other two bands, I never really sat down and gave Chiens the attention they deserved until these past few weeks and hot damn was I missing out. These guys are great! It’s like if all those comically fast parts from The Afternoon Gentleman were compiled into a single band! Seriously, after having to wade through countless grindviolence projects on Bandcamp that feature blast beats so incredibly sparingly, it’s so god damn refreshing to hear a band that almost EXCLUSIVELY sticks to MAXIMUM VELOCITY. I mean, we are talking about flirting with Dead Instrument levels of speed here.
Latest Release?
Trendy Junky. Yeah, I mentioned the speed, but there’s also a certain ZANINESS here that really adds character to the band’s sound. The band pulls off the feat of being so blistering and intense yet at the same time there’s a sort of goofy quality to the music present in everything from the guitar tone down to the song titles. Also, the song “Rehab” begins with one of the most intense blast parts I have heard in a long time, I will literally listen to it 10 times over while I’m running late for work, IT’S THAT GOOD!
