REVIEW: Beggar - "Chainscraper" (EP)

By: Ernesto Aguilar

Album Type: EP

Date Released: 17/05/2017

Label: Independent

Still heavy, with flourishes of dank blues, Beggar sets a dense forecast on each track.

“Chainscraper” CD//DD track listing

1. Chainscraper

2. Take a Leaf

3. Our Good Name

4. Cryptid

The Review:

As metal bands go, London's Beggar is as active as they come. Formed in 2012, Beggar released a string of recordings, including its self-titled demo in 2013, “Beggar II” in 2014 and EPs in 2015 and 2016. Vocalist Charlie Davis, guitarists Abraham Whitworth and Jake Leyland and drummer Bertrand Sautier clearly have a significant amount of creative energy between them. With the group's third EP, "Chainscraper," Beggar's music seems primed for its next stage of development.

Those who have heard past works by Beggar will surely remember some of the more melodic tones to its work. Although the music has always been quite thick, there were plenty of hooks and strong rhythms from Sautier and Davis, who covers bass duties as well. This EP, the recording feels far more urgent with vocals much edgier than its last forays. Still heavy, with flourishes of dank blues, Beggar sets a dense forecast on each track. Some critics have likened the style to something south of Rage Against the Machine. It is possible to hear echoes of that group in the first 60 seconds of a track like "Cryptid" although what Beggar does is truthfully far different. There's certainly some groove, but it is without the rap and hip-hop influences of Rage. It is easier to hear something more like early Suicidal Tendencies in many of these riffs. For the pure metal fan, such is welcome news.

Beggar's new recording, in fact, unifies most with hard rock, punk and neo-blues inspirations to its already potent metal clang. Listeners get the gouge of classic metal and sludge from the beginning with the title track, then into "Take A Leaf," which sprinkles in just a bit of thrash too. It's really mellifluous, in fact. Rarely do you find yourself bobbing your head with a band's sticky tightness, but you get it here. Maybe it's band compatibility that lends to Beggar's prodigious output and just how enjoyable these guys are when they play together. However the group wrings out just excellent music, they do it with gusto on this new EP.

Throw up a high five to Davis, of course, for adeptly using this vehicle for his shouts, growls and brutal vocals on a song such as "Our Good Name." The lead on this EP is quite a standout. Then again, this new recording by Beggar reveals a band growing and getting better with time.

"Chainscraper" is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook