Chepang : "Jhyappa"

Based in New York, this grindcore band is from Nepal, and use the ethnic tones of their culture as window dressing for the music. The first actual song is just over a minute, and finds these guys riding cool riffs rather than using their time as wisely as some of the grind core bands we have praised in the past. "Gatichad" is three and a half minutes long, which gives them more time, though the vocals are just screamed as a texture, sometimes doubled with lower death metal growls. They are more metal and less punk than a band like GISM. 

The main emphasis of "Ek Hajar Jhut" is the fast blasting section, though they do bring it down to a more deliberate pace. The production is raw enough to capture the feel of what they are doing. "Khel' has some heavy chugs that are brought to a chaotic boil. "Drivya Shatki" is a little more deliberate, but it doesn't get anything we haven't already heard on this album from them on it. The song after it is more tediou and punk, though just over a minute, so the ambush of stiff riffing does not last the song. 

"Niryana" is more like death metal with a hardcore accent of gang vocals chiming in. "Bidhai" is an instrumental outro, but it might be the album's best-written composition, almost making it feel like a waste of fine riffing. I will give this an 8. it works for what it is, though I think people will hype this up as the band plays up the immigrant angle, which got them recognition in the hipster circles of New York. It drops May 23rd on Relapse Records. 

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