CIVIC’s Most Ambitious Punk Album Yet Has Arrived "Chrome Dipped"
On their third full length album, Melbourne’s CIVIC rip up the punk rulebook they helped preserve and rebuild it with chrome plated grit. 'Chrome Dipped' is a confident pivot in the bands sound, it's still loud, still relentless, but this time with a curious sheen. Produced by Kirin J. Callinan and engineered by Chris Townend, the record explores new textures, pulls from post punk and glam rock, and emerges sounding like a band waking up to the full width of their own potential.
Opening with “The Fool” It's sets the tone for the rest of the album, it's definitely punk but with more angles, paying homage to punk of old.
This is a band clearly in transition, and that's a good thing. CIVIC stuck close to the raw and rugged Australian punk lineage. 'Chrome Dipped' trades the rawness of the Australian punk scene for ambition. Self titled track “Chrome Dipped” channels Violent Soho in their starting era. “Gulls Way” takes punk and strips it into an emotional soundscape of a ballad. “The Hogg” punches you right in the gut, and it’s one of the most rewarding turns on the record.
Guitarist Lewis Hodgson recently admitted that their former sound was beginning to feel “a bit stale”, and you can hear the hunger to escape it in nearly every track. Yet, what’s impressive is that they haven’t completely abandoned their core aggression, rather, they've reconstructed it. Even at its most polished, the album never loses the sense that something is about to erupt. It’s punk that’s comfortable making you wait a beat longer than expected before chaos ensues.
“We kind of stuck to the rules a little bit earlier on like, do Australian punk rock properly and all that"
The album’s production is cleaner, bolder, but still feral, matches the songwriting’s adventurous spirit. That’s thanks in no small part to Callinan’s outside the box influence. His touch is subtle but effective, the synth accents, the reverb drenched vocal takes, and the decision to record at Tasmania’s MONA (Museum of Old and New Art) all add to the sense that this is a record unafraid to indulge ideas that would've been laughed out of the room two albums ago.
The later half of the album features tracks like "Fragrant Rice", "Kingdom Come", and "Swing of The Noose", which sound like they should all be featured on a Tony Hawk video game, but also solidifies the facts that solidify have a clean release which will be featured for years to come.
'Chrome Dipped' feels like CIVIC’s growing up album, the sound of a band refusing to be typecast. It captures the tension of transformation, and new ambitions. By the end, it’s clear CIVIC are no longer just carrying the Australian punk torch, but also forging their own way forward.