‘Struggle’: Chemical Valley Mutants Return to Politely Cave Your Skull In
Struggle Review:
Jay Crimson and his band of street trash lunatics, Chemical Valley Mutants, have returned with an eardrum scorching new album, Struggle.
Jay is also a filmmaker, as regular readers will know, having created from the sludge of every dark alley, Green Hell (see review for Green Hell here) and Lilith (see Lilith: The Acid-Drenched Nightmare of Jay Crimson’s Darkest Vision), the music he and the band formulate has echoes of past and present punk, death and black metal. The first album (see Unapologetic Punk Fury: Chemical Valley Mutants’ ‘Poisoned’ Album Review) was a rough affair that genuinely felt as if you’d just bought it decades ago and was all the more exciting for it.
With Struggle it isn’t a polished affair, it’s still ruthless and aggressive. The production is a bit muddy in parts, and that tinned cassette tape audio is around. Perfect. Wouldn’t want it any other way.
The opening song, Bleak, hits its opening moments as strong as Slayer’s Bloodlines. It’s honestly as hard as it can get whilst the vocals switch styles throughout. Alas though, it is but a quick intro.
Kicking off officially with Devotee, CVM have taken on a fair chunk of early Biohazard and Eat the Turnbuckle into their sound which has really fattened it all out. It’s raw, with brutal guitar slashes across your personal bubble.
Ignorant, like Devotee, has messages in the lyrics which are delivered in a pure punk crossed with black metal style whilst most of the songs, especially Pessimist, musically still have a huge backbone built on the old school like Dead Kennedys, Crass, and Subhuman. However, then along comes Slander which goes full on GG Allin while keeping the lyrics manipulated by society information.
There isn’t one weak or just passable tune, this one is a definite mandatory purchase for anyone into punk or gritty dirty metal or punk. If you love The Murder Junkies, old school punk and such, Chemical Valley Mutants will turn up in your life and politely cave your skull in whilst demanding you love the sensation throughout.
Album Info:
Band: Chemical Valley Mutants
Album: Struggle
Members: Jay Crimson (vocals), Aaron Coates (guitar), Dan “Goon” Ganim (drums), Stephen Deford (bass)
Produced by: Two Headed Dog
Engineered by: Brendan Kuras, Randy Willis
Studio: Schwonk Sound Stead
Year: 2026
Country: USA
Art: Mar D. Dellinger
Runtime: 23min
Label: Self-Released
Track Listing:
01. Bleak
02. Struggle
03. Pessimist
04. No Supremacy
05. Ignorant
06. Slander
07. Just Tryna Be Nice
08. When Her Eyes Roll Back
09. You Sell Meth!
10. Devotee
