CHALK - Crystalpunk

Formed as a trio and now down to a duo, with a touring drummer filling in live, Northern Irish outfit Chalk first got people talking back in 2022, with the release of their earliest standout tracks "Them" and "Velodrome", in which they experimented with a blend of noise dynamics, post-punk and danceable industrial flourishes. The full-length debut from Benedict Goddard (guitar and synth) and Ross Cullen (vocals), "Crystalpunk", arrives after the trio of EPs "Conditions", "Conditions II" and "Conditions III", which carried plenty of hype with them, showing a desire to unite two cornerstones of the musical history of Belfast, their hometown: the rawness of Seventies punk and the rave music that emerged during the Nineties.

The debut shows a greater pursuit of the anthem, an unsurprising detail given the huge success achieved, along with a few blanks fired. The reference points range from the inevitable Nine Inch Nails to techno excursions in the vein of Orbital and Underworld, with a few veiled forays into darkwave, while completely setting aside the post-punk quota. Matching the memorable heights of the EPs are the electrified jolts and booming drums of "Tongue", along with the nineties industrial memories of the following "Pain", while "Can't Feel It" pushes toward dance and electro, before slowing down and chasing sing-alongs with the drier sound of 2000s indie-rock and alt-rock on "Longer".

Less memorable are the pop-leaning pursuit of "One-Nine-Eight-Zero" and the echoes of the brief, whispered interlude "Eclipse", whose atmospheres partly recall Burial, before things get back on track with the almost entirely instrumental techno-industrial peak "Skem".

The final triptych slips from the hypnotic rhythms of "I.D.C." into the long and interesting Underworld-esque experiment "Béal feirste", while the buzzing closer "Ache" comes across as a muted extra.

With "Crystalpunk", Chalk don't fully satisfy (on record, at least) the level of expectation set by their earlier, brief releases; that said, it's well known that the band's live shows leave no one indifferent, and these tracks seem well crafted to hit hardest in a live setting. A transitional phase that could push them toward more electronic (and pop) territory in the near future.

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19/04/2026