Wax Chattels: Clot | 4ZZZ Brisbane 102.1FM

- Off the back of the widely acclaimed 2018 Daughters record You Won’t Get What You Want and the emergence of black midi last year, it seems noise rock is enjoying some renewed popularity. Then you have stalwarts like Lightning Bolt continuing to do their thing and acts like Tropical Fuck Storm and Girl Band popping up and putting their own spins on the genre, leaving us with plenty of hard-hitting, noisy bangers to salivate over.

An inevitable consequence of this time in the sun for noise rock is that it becomes increasingly difficult for new acts to stand out and capture the imaginations of a reasonably new and perhaps not yet entirely devoted listener base. One act that has managed to capture the attention of audiences, with their unique approach and frenetic live show, is New Zealand’s Wax Chattels. Their 2018, self-titled debut introduced the self-described “guitarless guitar band” and their curious approach to noise rock, to the world and left fans pining for more guitar-void, no wavey goodness.

The idea of guitarless noise rock is sure to raise a few eyebrows, but rest assured the band gets plenty of noise out of their bass, keyboard, and two-piece drum kit. Their sophomore full-length, Clot, is the logical continuation of the band’s evolution as they build on this formula: they sound louder, and more audacious and aggressive.

Opener Glue features a vigorous drumming performance, razor-sharp bass and vacillating keys. Immediately the growth in chemistry is on display, with the arresting interactions between each member taking centre stage. The band have spent much more time playing together and have developed their sound in a live setting; it shows. True to the noise rock ethos, they have also advanced their ability to create a hypnotising wall of sound, which can be experienced in the face-melting climax of Efficiency.

The cut Cede addresses a theme that deserves the tenacious fervour of this record as Amanda Cheng indignantly confronts Cross-Strait relations in choruses performed in Taiwanese Hokkien. “Your lies are not my life / Your censorship is not ownership” she snarls, affronting the cultural genocide and the international community’s prioritisation of diplomacy over the forced erosion of a culture. Cheng and Peter Ruddell share vocal duties across the record, and both bring forth commanding performances that do the intensity of the instrumentals justice. Tracks like No Ties, Less Is More and An Eye are undoubtedly the product of immense, pent-up frustration.

Fellow noise musician Ben Greenberg deserves a shoutout for the mixing on this record, as the band is able to reach new heights of noise catharsis without sacrificing their immaculate production, which they have knocked out of the park on tracks like Spanner & Implements and closing track You Were Right.

Any doubts surrounding Wax Chattels’ guitarless approach to noise rock that are left have been well and truly blown out of the water on this record. And when I say blown out of the water, I mean it. On Clot Wax Chattels have taken the next step as a band and proven you don’t need guitars to capture the chaotic vigour of the bands mentioned at the start of this review. You just need a helluva lot of talent, chemistry, and a pretty shitty socio-political climate to confront.

- Jack Jones.<iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=541449098/size=large/bgcol=ff…; seamless><a href="https://waxchattels.bandcamp.com/album/clot">Clot by Wax Chattels</a></iframe>
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