Chivo – Cantankerous Rock

Chivo– Cantankerous Rock

Self-released - 2013

Stoner, Rock, Doom

Rated: ****

can*tan*ker*ous (/kan’taNGkərəs/) – Adjective.  Def:  Bad-tempered, argumentative, uncooperative.  Spanish stoner rockers Chivo have unleashed their second helping of thick-bottomed fuzz and smoke-clouded melody that they call ‘Cantankerous Rock’.  Heavy emphasis on menace creates a downhill power that snowballs through the band’s iconic riffs and plows into the listener through the seething vocals.  Like the very best upstarts in the field of stoner rock Chivo hit on all the right references from the classic forefathers of the genre through to the grunge era and beyond.  Chivo hit on other facets of the stoner rock prism as well taking their confrontational style all the way to the moon and back, proving that they are equally able to get in the face of listeners but also to brood contemplatively in the barren territory of space rock.  Truth be told there’s much aggression on this album but there’s still a laidback feel fans of the genre appreciate, lest smoke-tinged paranoia set in!  Sure, Chivo crush skulls, but they make bongs out of those skulls then pass them around.

(Written by Lucas)

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