Gig review: Part Chimp at The Crescent, York

Support acts Junk-It and Uncle Bari – both guitar/drums duos - do a fine job of acclimatising the crowd for the sonic pummelling to come, the latter bringing to mind the slow motion riffing of Dylan Carlson’s Earth. And both get a deserved shout-out as kindred spirits from Part Chimp singer/guitarist Tim Cedar.

Kicking off with Worms for a set that draws heavily on 2021 album Drool, Part Chimp, as their name suggests, are a quartet on a quest to de-evolve rock music back to the glorious basics of riff, groove and volume.

Drummer Jon Hamilton puts in an impressive stint behind the kit, ensuring that the crushing riffs keep moving forward at a lively pace even as the band dig ever deeper into a primordial swamp where Sabbath meets the Stooges, the Melvins meet Motorhead, and all distinctions between punk, rock and the sludgier end of metal give up and beg for mercy.

But this celebratory din is no grim endurance test, and despite the room-shaking volume that they blast from their long-suffering amps and pedalboards, Part Chimp’s amiable stage presence is a million miles from macho rock posturing.

Cedar and fellow guitarist Ian Hinchliffe trail scudding melodic lines through the likes of Wallow and Up With Notes – which brings to mind Nirvana’s heaviest moments and their ability to camouflage pop songs under chaotic guitar meltdowns.

Back From The Dead is a dead ringer for Radiohead’s Just being hit amidships by a stolen lorry full of cement (and makes you wish that Jonny Greenwood and friends would rediscover the cheap thrills of very loud guitars one day).

Part Chimp’s quest for one riff to rule them all may even have reached its ultimate goal in Drool’s mighty title track, which is tonight’s highlight, a track that could reduce the most highly-evolved audience to simians dancing gleefully around a giant black monolith of burnt-out speaker stacks.