Distill – verb – to extract the essential meaning of or most important aspects of
On their eight studio “album” Gothenburg Hard Rock Motherfuckers, The Chuck Norris Experiment have managed to do just that. Distill everything they’ve done to date into ten blistering rock work-outs in the space of twelve minutes. With a statistic that would make you think you’ve stumbled across a long-lost Ramones release or a new Grindcore masterpiece, you really have got to hear Shortcuts to appreciate just what a Hard Rock masterstroke CNE have pulled.
As the sampled intro to “Back It Up” warns you to “fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night” you can only sit back and let it all wash over you and wonder what the fuck has hit you as the last strains of “Begging For More” leave you doing just that.
Whether it’s the low slung swagger of “One Hand On The Hip”, the gnawing melody of the aforementioned “Begging For More” or the chest-beating singalong that is “Whatever You Say I Am” it’s like all the best bits of their debut album, Right Between The Eyes and Dead Central have had all the fat stripped off them (and lets be honest they were pretty fucking lean already) and been given a huge dose of steroids and a ton of adrenalin. And you’d think an album with the longest track of 1:27 might be lacking in melody and intricacy, yeah? Well, think again, because Chuck The Ripper’s leads are all over the likes of “All Your Bridges Are Burning” and “Little Demon II”. With the rest of the band on peak form and with production as crisp and punchy as you’d expect this is the best twelve minutes you’ll subject your ears to this year.
With a release as a 7 inch record (which as I write this has already sold out on pre-order), cassette and a CD in can (as well as the usual digital sources) you’ll hopefully have heeded the social media adverts and snapped up a physical copy already, but regardless, you need a copy of this in any form. It’s a little piece of hard rock genius.
Author: Darrel Sutton
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