After a long day partying in the sweltering summer sun, the boys clamber into the back of your very first car — a 1983 Peugeot 205 in pagoda red. The engine splutters into life, and you’re off, driving into the sunset. With a crackle and some white noise, “Take On Me” by a-Ha comes on the radio and you all erupt into song. Soon, you arrive at the local movie theatre, which is overflowing with fellow fanatics eager to see the long-awaited blockbuster, Back to the Future. This is the year 1985, and you’re just about to set off on a journey that will change your life forever. You will form a brotherhood with your friends, you will fall in and out of love, you will move away from home for the first time. This is a coming-of-age story.
Parisian quintet Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! could very well be the rag-tag group of fun-lovers illustrated in the introduction. The name alone will tell you that Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! are a… weird band; what other musical group derives the core aspect of its brand from 1985 comedy-adventure hit, The Goonies?!
For the uninitiated, Chunk embody characteristics of multiple genres, namely post-hardcore, pop-punk and perhaps the most apt label for the band,“easy-core”; don’t expect some kind of textured, nuanced prog adventure. Chunk formed in 2007, and is comprised of Bertrand Poncet taking up the lead vocal helm, six-string soldiers Éric Poncet and Paul “Wilson” Cordebard, Mathias Rigal on bass and lastly, Bastien Lafaye rounding out the lineup behind the drum kit. With a back catalog spanning three studio albums — 2010 debut Something For Nothing, 2013 smash hit Pardon My French, and their last record prior to going on hiatus, 2015’s Get Lost, Find Yourself — Chunk have long been a respectable band for their consistently strong records. Calling Fearless Records home since 2011, Chunk are now back in business and are on the cusp of dropping their new record Gone Are The Good Days on July 30 2021, a decade after joining the label.
Before we dive into the twelve songs that make up Gone Are The Good Days, let’s avert our attention to the album’s artwork: the light of the setting sun cascades into a brickwork studio apartment with the title of the record displayed in a pink neon-tube typeface in the upper right quadrant. A white Stratocaster sits atop a small couch with a tweed guitar amplifier to its left; both derivative of staple designs by Fender. Aside the title of the record, a North American tour poster is displayed angular on the wall: Chunk are headlining, with a supporting lineup that wouldn’t go amiss at Slam Dunk Festival — Counterparts, State Champs and Living With Lions.
Drums on the far left of the image glisten in the light, and beer cans are strewn across the laminate floor of the apartment, contributing to the atmosphere of this being a lax band practice space. The design opted for on the artwork evidently draws influence from 1980s aesthetics, with the chosen typefaces and warm sunset colour palette deliberately selected to evoke feelings of nostalgia and familiarity. I mean this neither as a negative or a positive, merely an observation based on the art on show here: if I didn’t know this was a Chunk album, I would genuinely believe it if I was told this was a new record by synthwave duo The Midnight. I find that bands fall into one of two camps — either their artwork from album to album is incredibly cohesive and fits into a set design e.g. August Burns Red, or the band tries out new styles with each record’s presentation. In my eyes, Chunk certainly fall into the latter — Gone Are The Good Days visually departs from prior records, which themselves are all rather distinct from one another.
Opening track and lead single “Bitter” comes in thick-and-fast with a stupidly fun harmonic major guitar riff, not too dissimilar to offerings by fellow countrymen, Novelists FR. This massive moment is a little too short-lived, and I can imagine “Bitter” really pushing the boat out by centring the song around this melody. Lyrically, “Bitter” is quite on-the-nose for better or worse depending on your tastes; Poncet utilises his ultra-American cleans in the admittedly addictive pre-chorus — “I thought I couldn’t live without you now / I need to restart again / Things won’t always work how you planned out / So just restart again”. I would safely interpret this as being either a song about the self-doubt of reforming your band and the challenges that come with it, although lyrically this song would also be applicable to those going through a break up.
Having launched on YouTube on May 14 2021, the music video for “Bitter” has amassed over 320,000 views as of the time of writing this review — no small feat whatsoever for a band who have remained dormant for many years now. This speaks volumes for the fanbase’s appreciation of Chunk’s timely return. Releasing within one year of the disappointingly lacklustre You’re Welcome by A Day To Remember, many have placed their eggs in the Chunk basket to act as the salvation for easy-core, and “Bitter” is certainly beyond anything on You’re Welcome.
Secondly, we have “Drift Away”, which to me feels a little like it is a song by the yearly token Eurovision rock band, but I find that quite endearing if anything. Just like the preceding song, lead vocalist Poncet delivers a pre-chorus that is both corny yet unbelievably catchy in “Drift Away”: “I’m a broken symphony / String on a violin / Playing a game of chance that I’ll never win”. The common thread with these two songs, aside from all of the major-key Drop A# guitar goodness and watertight production, is that the pre-choruses are decidedly more memorable and melodious than the choruses themselves. I can’t quite bring myself to criticise the musicianship on this front, as there isn’t a definitive rulebook for such things, and I can admire bands for embedding key moments in unorthodox places.
With the third track on this record, Chunk provide us with the eponymously titled “Gone Are The Good Days”. I won’t dance around the issue here — this song feels decidedly mediocre to me in terms of its melodies, progressions and an annoyingly repetitive chorus. Where “Gone Are The Good Days” shines is in its structure and dynamics: Chunk incorporate a groovy intro, refrains with acoustic guitars, and even a breakdown into this track. Outside of these positives, I can’t help but feel like this song is unfortunately quite shallow. Lyrics such as “Gone are the good days / But they stay with me always” lack substance, and the overall instrumentation wouldn’t be amiss on a Busted or State Champs record, neither of which are bands notable for intriguing, infectious riffs.
Fourth track, “Marigold”, instantly reminds me of Matt Skiba-era Blink-182, with its finger-picked acoustic guitar intro, and unmistakably pop-punk chorus progression. Poncet delicately entwines melancholy and romance in his story-telling throughout “Marigold”: “I’m so far from home / Just trying to be sincere / There’s times in my life / That I wish you could be here”. In my interpretation, “Marigold” provides a narrative of two lovers existing parallel to each other, never meeting. It may even be about unrequited love. “Marigold” is a straightforward composition, but one I’ve got a lot of admiration and respect for.
Track five, “Made For More”, kicks in with a high-gain guitar riff that instantly felt familiar to me; I couldn’t possibly have heard this prior to the review, as this wasn’t a single. After some digging I found my source material: “Compromise” by Abandoned By Bears. This incontrovertible similarity isn’t a dig at Chunk, but rather a sign that the confines of the genre they inhabit are unfortunately closing in on them. Unlike metalcore and particularly its more progressive sub-genres, the lack of depth and nuance in pop-punk and easy-core music acts as a blockade for standout stylistic shifts. Thus, the lines dividing each band in this sphere of sound will inevitably blur further, and these similarities are likely to become more frequent. The first verse of “Made For More”, is marked by rap-vocal patterns partnered with palm-muted Drop A# chugs, and this regrettably feels cringe-worthy to me. Furthermore, the chorus here falls into the same trap of monotony as “Gone Are The Good Days”.
Reaching the halfway point of Gone Are The Good Days, we are treated to what is arguably one of the strongest tracks on the record — song six, “True Colors”. The highlight of this track has got to be that zestful, bluesy rock riff that opens the song; again, something quite akin to Novelists FR and I absolutely love that about this introduction. Like with the intro riff for “Bitter”, I wish that this stuck around longer and played a more prominent role in the song. Overall, “True Colors” demonstrates a lot of promise, with vocal melodies in the verses that wouldn’t be misplaced in the UK Top 40, an uncomplicated but nonetheless impactful BMTH-esque breakdown, and a gritty, layered chorus that is impossible to resist singing along to. Seventh song “Good Luck” clocks in at just two minutes and twenty-eight seconds, making it not only the shortest track on Gone Are The Good Days, but also the shortest song ever released by Chunk. Its brief run-time, as well as a tricky placement in the flow of the record, makes “Good Luck” quite forgettable, particularly when bookended by “True Colors” and track eight, “Complete You”.
Speaking of “Complete You”, this is a bit of a banger. The song features AJ Perdomo of The Dangerous Summer, who provides a slight, yet noticeable contrast to Poncet’s heavily-accented clean vocals. Chunk successfully evoke a sense of finality through deliberately-chosen chordal voicings in the introductory piano piece, which is added to with energetic drum beats, gently-picked guitar layers and lastly, AJ’s solid vocal performance. Lyrics such as “Pulling me in, pulling me in / Drag me under / What makes you think I can’t breathe underwater?” provide a more matured sense of songwriting — these lyrics actually make me feel something, giving me the impression that this is certainly a heartfelt, purposeful composition.
Let’s get into what may be a divisive topic in this song: the saxophone. The instrument has made itself present within modern alternative music as of late, from Northlane’s “Sleepless”, to Saxl Rose featuring on “D.O.S.E” by Intervals. This is something you’re bound to either adore or loathe; I don’t usually hear comments of impartiality or indifference towards the sax. I fall into the former camp, and I was absolutely enthralled upon first hearing the sparkling sounds of that sexy, golden woodwind wonder.
Do you recognise the name of song nine? You should if you’re familiar with Chunk — it’s “Blame It On This Song”. Yup, that’s right. Some genius thought that slapping a single released in 2016 onto a 2021 record would be a good idea. Like, why on earth is this here? It’s not like Chunk were short for content, the record would total forty-one minutes without “Blame It On This Song” needlessly taking up a spot in the track-list. Separating song nine’s questionable existence on this record, it’s a bloody solid track, highlighted by that mesmerising key change two-thirds of the way in. This tasteful transition instantly takes me from the sunlit party of the earlier sections of the song to a secluded sunset paradise. That late-evening atmosphere is built upon with chunky, boomy toms and a gorgeously crisp baseline, delivered by Lafaye and Rigal respectively.
Moving swiftly onto tenth track, “Painkillers”, we reach the pinnacle of the record. The superlative song ten hits hard from the get-go, with colosseum-filling drums and vintage synthesizers conjuring visions of a 1980s boxing gym; you could very easily train to this track. This feels like Breaking Benjamin met up with Bad Vibrations-era A Day To Remember and hopped into the TARDIS, taking us back forty years. The huge drop in this song is unequivocally a pit-former, and is made even more massive with the consistently colossal production present here. What allows this song to truly stand above the rest is the chorus and its melody — “The pain is relative / What matters is how you deal with it / If there’s no compromise / I can’t save you if you keep jumping in”. “Painkillers” exudes power, confidently elevating itself above its neighbouring tracks. If you only check out one song from Gone Are The Good Days, please, let it be this one.
Eleventh song “Tongue Tied” is a jarring juxtaposition to the heavy-hitter “Painkillers”, acting as the emotive ballad of this record. Featuring the gracious, floaty vocals of Covet frontwoman, Yvette Young, “Tongue Tied” has some very appreciable elements, from its sombre acoustic guitar sections, to the orchestral build-up that is pieced together so beautifully as the song flourishes towards the end. Marching drums wrap up “Tongue Tied”’s ending as Poncet and Young entwine whilst singing “Just tell me if this is too much / I’ve always felt I’m not enough / The closer I get to something / The further I run / But I hope that things are different this time”. I won’t lie, these lyrics really got me — they’re relatable, stirring, and elegantly delivered by this unexpected vocal pairing. Sincerely, I loved the journey I was taken on with “Tongue Tied”. My only gripe, and this is minuscule when compared to the song holistically, is the opening line “I met you in the fall, we were falling”. This is such a weak lyric, surely this isn’t the best they could come up with?
Lastly, we reach the closing track for Gone Are The Good Days, entitled “Fin”, simply meaning “end” in French. For those unaware of how I approach music, I essentially place more value on the closing track of a record, as it has the crucial role to play of wrapping up the entire experience thematically and sonically. Many of my favourite songs on my favourite records are the closing tracks — e.g., “Via” by Volumes, or “Monochrome (Pensive)” by The Contortionist. Unlike Chunk’s bombshell final song “Every Moment” on their previous record Get Lost, Find Yourself, “Fin” unfortunately misses the mark for me… By quite a large margin.
In conclusion, I understand Gone Are The Good Days. This is a record centred around the themes of loss, new beginnings, and moving on from a past that can never be reclaimed. Time carries on, despite our longing for days we remember so fondly. As a product, Gone Are The Good Days retains a strong identity — this is a collection of songs crafted to convey a message of the value of nostalgia, of friendship, and of memory. I am absolutely not one to dissuade anyone from pursuing music, but instinctually I feel that that this would act aptly as Chunk’s final record; the world is an incredibly different place since Chunk last released music in 2016, and those who were once big fans of the band including myself, have since moved onto other things.
Many inconsistencies line the journey that Gone Are The Good Days will take audiences on, from shallow, meaningless lyrics and an odd structure, to the presence of a five-year old single. Disappointingly, this creates a listen that can feel disingenuous at times. I’m not thoroughly sold on this record, I will openly admit, despite having some truly standout moments with entertaining riffs in “Bitter” and “True Colors”, as well as the masterful composition that is “Painkillers”. My recommendation is — if you are a long-time follower of the band, give this record a chance. If you’re new to Chunk, give “Painkillers” a shot and go from there.
Gone Are The Good Days is available today via Fearless Records, and you can purchase/stream the album here. For all things Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! and music in general, keep it locked on Boolin Tunes.
5.5/10