Chunk No Captain Chunk “Gone Are The Good Days” Review

Chunk No Captain Chunk is a French easycore outfit that has been signed to Fearless Records for quite some time now, for each of their full-length releases to be exact. With COVID and a hiatus separating their last release and “Gone Are The Good Days”, it’s nice to get a very filling 12 track album, even if one song on the record comes from a song originally released as a single in 2016. Chunk No Captain Chunk has also been featured on one of the Punk Goes installments. With the first album to grace our ears from the creative easycore band since “Get Lost, Find Yourself”, we decided to immerse ourselves in “Gone Are The Good Days” and review it to see how Chunk no Captain Chunk have changed over the years since their last release.

Bitter

Immediately “Bitter” comes off as a companion to the way-earlier-released song later featured on “Gone Are The Good Days”, “Blame It On This Song”, with its soft guitar strum leading into what many fans had been patiently waiting for. Once established, the album was going to be very well-fitting through the words “Chunk! No, Captain Chunk” from “The Goonies”, the movie that the band took their name from when forming, comes onto the track and makes the listener feel even more at home. The words “restart again” can’t help but remind me of the very popular song “Restart” from Chunk No Captain Chunk’s previous record. In classic Chunk No Captain Chunk fashion, the song randomly exploded into deep growls and screams from the French powerhouse, even further promising the album to be a well-rounded hit and competitor to their discography.

Drift Away

“Drift Away” wasn’t necessarily a slow Chunk no Captain Chunk song on “Gone Are The Good Days” but compared to even the only track before it, Bitter, it’s slower. Chunk No Captain Chunk has shown on each release that they are capable of quite the variety of tuning and progression and up to this point, “Drift Away” is no exception.

Gone Are The Good Days

“Gone Are The Good Days”‘ title track starts off with a classic Chunk No Captain Chunk vibe brought on by the open chugging brought in with the intro guitar. While the song was instantly reminiscent of older Chunk No Captain Chunk albums, the song itself is more specifically reminiscent of Chunk No Captain Chunk’s previous full-length, “Get Lost, Find Yourself”.

Marigold

Up until the one-minute mark, “Marigold” gave the impression it was going to be the slowest song on the album but at that point the song shifts for a few seconds. While the song didn’t appear to be the slowest song at this point, it still feels far from the heaviest that the album is going to reach at some point. Chunk No Captain Chunk could always be counted on in the past for a surprise breakdown or guitar riff in a song and so far I may not have experienced that from this record, I am still far from disappointed. “Marigold” keeps a strong, steady pace but the song is far from their most upbeat, “Gone Are The Good Days” included.

Made For More

“Made For More” instantly became the most classic Chunk No Captain Chunk song present on “Gone Are The Good Days” at this point, featuring bouncy guitars and fast, hopeful lyrics. The track feels like it should have Chunk No Captain Chunk’s once trademark synth parts but the song felt more than full without them as well, which truly showed the progression Chunk no Captain Chunk have always been capable of and proved time and time again. With about a minute and a half before the song reached its end, the ever-longing breakdown has finally come and it was as glorious as a Chunk No Captain Chunk breakdown has always shown to be.

True Colors

“True Colors” started off with a simple yet slightly unfitting guitar for Chunk No Captain Chunk and even evolves into a similar sound but right before the one-minute mark the song started to sound more Chunk No Captain Chunk but with a little bit of different emotion than usual. A little more than halfway through the song, “True Colors” became a contender for my favorite track on the record so far. Without any disappointments from our “Gone Are The Good Days” review listen so far, it appears to be entirely worth the wait.

Good Luck

“Good Luck” started somewhat similar to the title track “Gone Are The Good Days” but faster than the previous track, “Good Luck” picked up much faster and was more noticeably an overall slightly heavy, but more moderately average-sounding song from the French easycore group. Overall, “Good Luck” felt like a song about dealing with being to stop the things around you from collapsing but there’s always a way to cope with whatever it brings and stood out in its own way during our “Gone Are The Good Days” review.

Complete You

“Complete You”, while immediately to the point on the area of sound, felt like the most home felt song on the record up to this point, and even when the song starts to pick up it just solidified itself as a solid Chunk No Captain Chunk song without raising any eyebrows. Although not the most upbeat or heavy Chunk no Captain Chunk song, it was still full of surprise, especially so as to include a guest performance by AJ Perdomo of The Dangerous Summer and a sax solo, making it beyond the most interesting song from our “Gone Are The Good Days” review without being heavy.

Blame It On This Song

Originally released in 2016, “Blame It On This Song” was released after the band’s last full-length before “Gone Are The Good Days” so when this album was finally put together, I’m sure the band was beyond excited to add it the full-length. Before this song was added to the album, it was the only Chunk No Captain Chunk song to remain as a single with no album to attach it to. With the intention that “Gone Are The Good Days” be a soundtrack to summer, “Blame It On This Song” was the perfect fit and rounded out the entire album, even with three more songs behind it. Overall, “Blame It On This Song” is the perfect combination of heavy Chunk and the overall growth the band has shown over the years and although an older single, it may have stood out most during our “Gone Are The Good Days” review.

Painkillers

“Painkillers” sounded similar to songs listed earlier on “Gone Are The Good Days” with a little more attitude to it, and gave the impression it was could pick up at any moment and explode into one of Chunk No Captain Chunk’s favored breakdowns and just before the two-minute mark, dreams came true. At that point in the song, “Painkillers” lead into what felt similar to the evolution A Day To Remember went through going into their current era. Although the song didn’t deliver a killer of a breakdown, it’s certainly one of the most stand-out songs from our “Gone Are The Good Days” review.

Tongue Tied

As the album reached its end with “Tongue Tied”, the second to last track, it was shown with the dynamic and elements immediately shown in the song that the album was winding down. While earlier we mentioned Painkillers sounds similar to A Day To Remember’s newer and heavier style, “Tongue Tied” very strongly brings back memories of ADTR’s “If It Means A Lot To You” with its acoustic styles. Guest vocals from Yvette Young of Covet officially made this one of the most interesting songs during our “Gone Are The Good Days” review.

Fin.

Finally, we were left with the perfectly titled finale to the album “Fin.” which started off with and filled the first 20 seconds of the song with some immediately interesting production style drum sounds that lead into what is known as a classic Chunk No Captain Chunk style intro. From there the song went into a fast frenzy and then steady, boppy guitars and drum patterns and continued to keep that bouncy pattern until about a minute left when the song started to feel it was reaching its total conclusion. While “Fin.” unfortunately didn’t lead into any sort of epic breakdown or hardcore element, it still closed the album outright and kept the album on a positive note.