Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! - Gone Are the Good Days review

French easycore legends Captain Chunk are back after a sort of unannounced five year hiatus and following up 2015’s Get Lost, Find Yourself. The band hasn’t changed labels or anything but do return produced in-house with vocalist Bertrand Poncet taking the reins. Given the singles leading up to this I had high expectations and how could I not? “Bitter” the first single as well as album opener is a big “we’re back” moment. We open the track with this very light riff that builds up and even uses the Goonies quote the bands namesake comes from as a hype up. Everything about Bert’s artistry here is so apparent from the lyricism, which very much paints the picture of being away for a long time, getting into the groove of being a band again. Just look at the first line;

“It’s been a long time coming and I know it”

Even in his production there is not a stone he left unturned. Minor details like the keys in the chorus, the way the vocals are layered in the last chorus all contribute to make the song huge. Instrumentally Captain Chunk feels so frozen in time in a way that is great for this genre, who else is making easycore like it’s the 2010s in 2021?

When the title track came out as the second single I had said that it was not one I felt should have stood alone and now that the record is here I couldn't with myself agree more. For as fantastic as it is I wish I had gotten to experience it for the first time in the way it flows with everything else. We have that same lyricism on “Bitter” only this time it feels more accidental yet still tugs on the heart strings. I’m sure when Bert said;

“Seeing you brings all the memories back and I’m wondering where all that time went”

He wasn’t speaking to the audience but damn if it doesn’t make me feel some sort of way. There’s also the natural call-and-response gang vocals that used to be a staple of the genre taking me back to my “band frozen in time” comment.

“Complete You” with AJ Perdomo (The Dangerous Summer) was the third single and this for sure feels like an appropriate teaser. It starts high energy and makes you think it’s going to build before turning into a half ballad-like verse. The chorus builds back up though and is an emotional rock moment, yet still almost feels like you could move your body in the pit to it. There is even a breakdown of sorts present with Bert still delivering some pretty raw stuff. The outro of this track has not stopped hitting me since it was released. It does have what may be the longest fade out I’ve ever heard (Still don’t like those) but is saved by a soul ascending sax solo that every band in this scene is trying to do once a record but I think this is the best of them all.

As we get into the album tracks though I was starting to get a bit worried. “Drift Away” sounds like the lower energy version of “Bitter” in that it has that same sort of comeback lyricism (“I’m closing this chapter by writing this hook” also sounds like a line Pete Wentz would have come up with post-hiatus) and just general good but not overtly groundbreaking easycore instrumentation. That and, while it’s next in the track listing, the title track accomplishes getting us past the hype phase and into the groove of the return in a better way and that was a single. Not that the track is bad there are some loud double kick pedals, some nice string sections and a campfire sing-along outro. I just think as far as building momentum in the record this falls sort of flat.

“Marigold” feels like a break in the record that may come too early. It opens with some acoustic picking that for sure picks up a pop punk energy but feels so emotional instrumentally throughout the entire thing. That and for a band known to write about normal scene things, partying with your friends, the summer, all of that, Bert gets pretty poetic on this one. The opening line;

“Not only do we connect, I perfectly fit in with you.”

Isn’t the level of love song I’d expect out of this band and it’s a nice surprise. The standout thing in this song to me is actually the guitar work I mentioned earlier. That acoustic riff stays present for the entire thing and at points we pull off things that I would expect out of the more progressive side of post-hardcore, see the second verse especially. While, like I said, this does feel like an early break in the album and we already had an awkward sequencing choice on “Drift Away” I think if I’m trying to look at the album in thirds then this starts a trend of each section ending on an emotional note. “Complete You” ends the second third and it can be looked at in that same vein.

If we rose, then dipped in energy then “Made for More” is a return to the peak of our game. It opens with this fast-paced riff, percussion that just explodes immediately and vocals that are almost at hip hop speeds. We’ve hit the easycore boxes many times already on this album and I feel redundant in saying it but this song, to me, is the very spirit of the genre and in many ways sounds like it could be on a higher quality version of the earliest Captain Chunk records. Even the breakdown sounds like it would be best played in a basement show in how short but impactful it is. Lyrically this is the inevitable pandemic song. We’re talking about drawing the curtains and hiding in our room, being made for more than safety all those typical things we keep hearing but that hook is so powerful in it’s delivery;

“Everyone thinks they’re safe till they’re not, if this is a dream then why can’t I wake up?”

The irony of the lyrical content here is this song will be such a live moment. It’s almost torturous to get it in a time frame where touring is questionable and for where this band is geographically sort of unrealistic.

“True Colors” is a testament to how little wrong this band can truly do. I just called myself out for saying “easycore” too many times and this is… certainly not that. What are southern metal riffs, metalcore breakdowns, angry vocals delivering cliches like “heavy lies the crown” elements of? Octane-core, a genre that gets hate from a lot of people for being so basic sounding and formulaic structurally. (Yes, I do this.) It even sounds like it’d be at home on that Attack Attack! record that may or may not ever come out. Yet when it’s Captain Chunk? It’s still fantastic, this band is that good.

“Good Luck” also has a country opener but in a much mellower, unplugged mood. From there it cuts into a shorter Captain Chunk song that’s a little hard to quantify. It feels like it’s in such it’s own world but I think it still has its place on the record.

“Complete You” comes next, which we discussed above and then five years after its release “Blame it on This Song” makes its way to an album. The track that was originally released to be a Warped Tour advertisement is a perfect contrast to what came before it as its another bouncy easycore cut. Reviewing this is a little difficult as it's the same recording it was in 2016. What I will say, however, is that while the recording is the same, the tone and meaning almost feels brand new on a comeback record. Initially the song is fairly obvious in being about an uncertainty that music as a career will work out for the author and wanting to cherish it, but also maybe missing out on a stable life at home in exchange. That being said I get emotional hearing lines like;

“I regret the summers that we never spent”

After hearing a band I hold in such high regard being gone and considering a world where they were not.

The mood shifts continue right away on “Painkillers,” which has an all rhythm section intro and a vocal delivery that seems a little confrontational. I would put this song in the same realm as “True Colors” from earlier, just in that it's more an angry rock song than a fun party song. There isn’t really a pre-chorus here, however, there is what seems to be just a tap on the rim of the drums before bursting in with a chorus. A moment that feels like a perfect freeze-frame that gears you up for the intensity. In how frustrated the entire song is it was clear Bert was letting out some aggression but still wants us to learn from his experience with lines like;

“The pain is relative, what matters is how you deal with it.”

The song ends with the end line of the chorus;

“I can’t save you, so learn to swim.”

Which is delivered in such a stick-out way with just a guitar ring and is a brilliant “fuck you” moment that would probably be found on an old hardcore record.

We hit the final post-hardcore ballad cliché in “Tongue Tied” featuring Yvette Young. (Covet) The song is mostly acoustic guitars beautifully picked and layered. Which all sounds very nice but it's repeating on almost the entire track and sort of gets old fast. The song attempts another poetic open with;

“I met you in the fall, we were falling.”

Which, maybe, doesn't work as well as “Marigold” above did. We do get a little interesting sonically with the indie rock drum pick up, our guitars go a little out of tune. Ultimately this is a break in the record but I don’t think it’s one that’s too strong. Everything sounds so plain even Bert’s singing of lines like;

“Tell me if this is too much, I’ve always felt like I’m not enough.”

Isn’t something I wouldn’t hear on just about every song like this being released.

For the finale we kick back with some high energy. Simple riff that explodes into a instrumental that screams “end of a post-hardcore record.” Sonically there isn’t really anything we haven’t gotten through on earlier tracks here but it does provide a contrast to the beginning of the project. “Bitter” welcomes us back and “Fin.” shows us out with lines like;

“When life is like a movie that no one will ever see, it ends with a beginning while the credits are rolling.

This is my soundtrack to the end, singing along is how it all began.”

It makes it all feel full circle and in a way is almost narrating us in our experience listening. Bert doesn’t come up with bar after bar but when he hits, he hits hard. There is an instrumental breakdown here that sounds heavy but also very emotional and sad even with no words to back it up. The only thing I can nitpick here is the cliched use of the “woah-oh” but even then it doesn’t necessarily not work.

I praised this album a lot here and not to say it isn’t a great record but it isn’t perfect. There are lulls that I’ve handpicked and talked about, the instrumentation isn’t pushing any boundaries, Bert has his strong lines but there are certainly times where he isn’t exactly a poet in fact at one point he says “now let’s look back now,” but the band is showing a lot of diversity and hitting about every emotion available. There are times where nostalgia is played at high to make it a more remarkable record but in a way I think that works. I don’t know how I’d feel about this album if I was not a fan of this band before but some of these themes maybe wouldn’t have worked with only a year between this and Get Lost. Not even to mention the fact that there aren’t too many bands doing this style anymore but Captain Chunk feels like they’ve emerged from a time capsule on this. As much as we, the listeners, don’t want our favorite bands to go away, maybe sometimes creating a want from an absence by going away for years is a good thing. At the end of the day, not to be a cliche, but for the little flaws this album is what the genre is. This sounds like being outside at a Warped Tour or in a house show in the summer.

What I’m trying to say is, you don’t know what you have until it’s gone and I didn’t realize how much this band truly meant to me until they’ve come and gone for a few years. I expect this to be high on my year end list and if that’s for nostalgia, so be it.