Jhyappa [LP Mustard]

Relapse Records welcomes the blistering grindcore force CHEPANG with their label debut, Jhyappa. Hailing from Queens, New York, by way of Kathmandu, Nepal, CHEPANG has never been your by-the-numbers band. They dub their music “immigrindcore”: They use samples from Nepali pop songs. They sing in Nepali. They embrace their immigrant identities. CHEPANG meld these elements together into an album about self immolation as a means of self preservation. Jhyappa touches on these philosophies through a ferocious grindcore attack that sounds as violent as the means through which the band wish to achieve redemption.

The lyrics on Jhyappa are “hardcore Nepalese,” guitarist Kshitiz Moktan says. "This record is more personal," he says, about “trying to relearn everything about yourself, releasing all your negative energy inside you.” Jhyappa’s cover art (by Masato Chaos) is based on self-immolation. But not “about any religion or any government; it’s against yourself. Everyone has their struggles, in their own head and in life, but the only one that can fix that is yourself," Moktan explains. “One has to be closer to one’s self spiritually to defeat this and come out victorious."

NYC is also referenced throughout the band's output. “All of us have lived half of our lives here. We live here, we see everything, positive and negative, so we wanted to have some kind of New York”, Moktan says. On the streets and in the subways, the band always sees “many people of different colors and races with their own life and story to tell. These are dynamic cues in life and serve as a motivation and also pride to be a part of this big city where diversity is everything. A melting pot of cultures.” True to that mentality, CHEPANG has played the world over on the backs of their prior records; from playing Obscene Extreme in Czechia to tearing down the walls at Baltimore Soundstage as part of Maryland Deathfest, the band is poised to revisit the world-over once again on the backs of their unique grind.

Musically, the band decidedly wanted to call back to their first cult-collected 7” from 2016, Lathi Charge, and go full circle - old school CHEPANG. Although Jhyappa is similar to their first EP sonically and structurally, a new metallic edge has crept its way into the band's playing and is now present throughout. Blast beats give way to crushing low end and no-frills, heavier-than-anything-else guitar passages. In true grindcore fashion, nine tracks stitch together a brutal package in under 20 minutes.

Keep up with CHEPANG if you can, with Jhyappa.