‘Nu-gaze’ is the term du jour you’ll see attributed to Split Chain, in the ongoing line of spurious genre signifiers to impress a band’s originality. Like all of them, it’s not as fancy as it’s made out to be. Instead, this blend of grunge, shoegaze, post-hardcore and nu-metal sounds most intriguing when you lay out its component parts like so. Put them together and throw them in to bake, and ‘nu-gaze’ can sound an awful lot like doing Deftones again.
Okay, it’s not exactly fair to boil Split Chain down to just that. If that’s all they were, the likelihood is they wouldn’t be seeing their current surge, nor would the genuineness of their creative intent come through as strongly. This band was originally formed as a musical vehicle for its members’ journeys towards recovery from addiction, which is a noble goal worth acknowledging however you choose to slice it. There are also backgrounds in hardcore to account for, presumably carrying a degree of integrity over to this newer, bigger act. And people do seem receptive; prior to this debut’s release, they already sit at just under a quarter of a million monthly listeners on Spotify alone, not to mention the big support slots and festival appearances they’ve nabbed. If you’re looking for a band that people appear to be gravitating towards for all the right reasons, Split Chain are currently it.
But you also can’t dance around it too much—when they sound like Deftones, they really sound like Deftones. To that end, there’s a bit of leeway that can offered for how hard it can be to iterate on such a singular entity in alternative music. On songs like SPIT and Subside, though, does iteration even come into it? At multiple junctures, they’re so one-to-one, as Bert Martinez-Cowles alchemises his ethereal croons and shredded, breathless screams to get as close to Chino Moreno as possible. The impressions aren’t bad, either; Martinez-Cowles has an ear for what works about them. They do illuminates how beholden to its influences that motionblur is, though, where they whole thing has simply been dusted off and wrapped up in a new name.
Luckily, it’s a long shadow but it’s not an impenetrable one, and when Split Chain get more than a toe or two out of it, the fervour starts to click. The production is worth mentioning first, as the obvious grunge and shoegaze techniques send the guitars deluging and generally leave a huge impression. Additionally, the glimpses of hardcore spirit manage to peek through, like how I’m Not Dying To Be Here and Rookie will ratchet their tension up to a boil and leave the anticipated quake of Martinez-Cowles’ loosed screams. In terms of feel, motionblur has that in spades, where there’s really no weak link to speak of. Compositionally, it’s solid alt-rock all the way down, made deeper and more cavernous by its very beneficial mix.
Best of all, sometimes that can percolate into a genuine banger or two, in the most traditional sense. Evidently, the many-sectioned Venn diagram of Split Chain does factor in a straight-up alt-rock hit, boosted by a chorus oozing with that oh-so-enticing ‘90s flair on bored.tired.torn and who am i. As a mirror for of Split Chain’s themes of self-actualisation and forging one’s own path, it all does a good job of bringing out that tenacity and determination to plough forward. The burliness and rough-and-tumble presentation rises to the top without fuss, and so, to end on my mistake…’s free-hanging guitar reaching for but missing its grungy smoulder, it’s kind of a damp squib. It’s also the longest song on the album by a comfortable distance, and definitely feels it.
On the whole, though, Split Chain haven’t made a bad start at all. As a way to get the ball rolling, motionblur hits its targets with the killer efficiency to reinforce its creators’ blazing ones-to-watch status. Growth will require some more attention and the willingness to prioritise Split Chain themselves instead of who’s in the rearview, but there’s no doubt whatsoever that that’s coming. Let’s go a step further, actually—it’s been a while since this degree of certainty has been felt towards a new band shaking off the yoke of their influences. Very, very little about Split Chain suggests that they’ll spend their days pacing aimlessly, even on a debut that needs its share of fine-tuning. Even now, they’re better than what any made-up non-genre tag will say about them.
For fans of: Deftones, Oversize, Love is noise
‘motionblur’ by Split Chain is released on 11th July on Epitaph Records.
Words by Luke Nuttall
