With a name like Gas Chamber and a record label like Iron Lung Records, it’s easy to make the assumption that the band plays some variation of hardcore, punk, noise or powerviolence. In most cases, this assumption would be correct, but Buffalo, New York’s Gas Chamber challenges everything it means to be in a conventional hardcore/punk band by playing a raging combination of hardcore, punk, powerviolence, d-beat and noise with bizarre interludes of calm and melodic song structure, and occasionally calming vocals that seem to have been mixed into the recordings, along with various other calm and hectic sounds (check out the song “My Warsaw” to see what I mean), to create one of the most versatile sounding albums of 2014. It is rare when bands that play aggressive music at break-neck speed can also take their audience/listeners on a wild ride of musical highs and lows. Gas Chamber has not by any means reinvented the wheel, instead they have found new ways to use it, resulting in some of the most generically unique songs that will make you laugh, cry, break shit, fix the shit you just broke, and then go question your existence in a dark room as the album comes to an end. Gas Chamber’s 2014 release Hemorrhaging Light is the most interesting album you and all your super hip friends will probably hear all year, and its diverse range of sounds and style account for a masterpiece of transformative punk music that is still heavily underrated, or just unheard, by many. Do yourself and all your friends a favor, and be sure to give Gas Chamber a thorough listen, and if they are playing a show somewhere near you, don’t hesitate to go.
Label: IRON LUNG Records
Cover Art for Hemorrhaging Light by Craig Shepard
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