CHOOF - Dimwitted Amoral Exploitation
Written by: Tom Wilson @thetomwilsonexperiment - Sense Music Media | Tuesday 11th April 2023
Melbourne Grind Psychos Go For The Jugular
CHOOF are lying to you. They can play dumb and throw words like “dimwitted” around as much as they want, but the truth is, these boys know exactly what they’re doing.
Part NAPALM DEATH, part G.G. ALLIN & THE MURDER JUNKIES, their live shows are already notorious for the antics of frontman Jake. Being up the front for their Brisbane show last year was the first time in a while I’ve feared for my safety at a show, and if you know me at all, you know I’m saying that as an endorsement. Following on from their rather excellent mixtape in 2022, the Melbourne crew have finally unveiled their first EP, and it’s an absolute screamer.
A fuzzed-out, almost languid riff opens Blasphemous Execution, before a tortured scream rings out, and CHOOF begin to pick up speed, reaching full gallop and collapsing back into feedback – summing up the band’s sound in a crisp 90 seconds. Berserk single Yoghurt Cups sounds like the soundtrack to a triple homicide, and its accompanying music video is suitably batshit insane. The production is thick and meaty – the drums as heavy and fast as an out-of-control locomotive. Mortuary Rat is a spasmodic, lurching assault on the senses – an off-kilter riff stumbling across a blastbeat before exploding in fury. Jake’s scorched highs sound like Jacob Bannon in Jane Doe-era CONVERGE, offset by Jackson’s booming backing vocals. Jackson’s bass is as thick and satisfying as the man himself, and Adam’s riffs are like a rattlesnake – poised, coiled and venomous. Every violent explosion of sound is measured and effective. Not one second is wasted. Satanico Pandemonium is the musical equivalent of a concussion – a swirling maelstrom of riffs, screams and percussive battery, and Jake’s shrieks at the end of Epileptic Exorcist sound like a bloke being dragged towards a padded cell. Skull Archery slows things down a fraction, giving Adam’s stoner metal riffs a little room to breathe, before erupting into a violent hysteria. Duct Tape Mummy closes things off with a warp-speed grind attack that unfurls into a long, slow march towards oblivion. We fade out, and it’s all over.
Exhilarating, violent, urgent and cathartic, Dimwitted Amoral Exploitation is world-class grindcore that can hold its own amongst genre heavyweights like WORMROT and NAPALM DEATH. Get it, or it will get you.
Dimwitted Amoral Exploitation is out April 27th.
Pictured: CHOOF
Photo by: Wild Rose Pictures