CIVIC - “CHROME DIPPED” REVIEW
Written by Blake Peck
CIVIC by Marcus Coblyn
Chrome Dipped is CIVIC’s boldest and most emotionally resonant work yet. It doesn’t just evolve the band’s sound—it reframes their entire artistic identity.
With Chrome Dipped, Melbourne’s CIVIC blow up their own blueprint. The band, once faithful torchbearers of snarling, ‘70s-inspired Australian punk, now push into wider, weirder terrain. Their third full-length is less a reinvention than an expansion — of sound, emotion, and intent. Produced by sonic provocateur Kirin J. Callinan and engineered by Chris Townend, Chrome Dipped is CIVIC’s most confident, thoughtful, and creatively restless work to date. It embraces the risk of alienating purists in order to push the band somewhere far more vital.
The record opens with “The Fool,” a dusty, hypnotic track that instantly sets a different tone. Built on a loping rhythm and western twang, it oozes with fatalistic swagger. “The fool he wears a crown upon his head / You know it’s made of sticks and absurd string it’s said,” McCullough sneers, as if dismantling the ego of a would-be scene king. The track has echoes of Interpol and Gun Club but remains distinctly CIVIC — moody, lean, and dangerous.
Next comes the title track “Chrome Dipped,” which continues the band’s left-turn with dry, precise guitars and a drum sound that feels half-mechanical, thanks to a snare suggested by Callinan. The result is sleek but haunted — like Queens of the Stone Age via Melbourne alleyways. Lyrically, the idea of being “chrome dipped” becomes a metaphor for self-preservation and emotional armor. Under the metallic sheen, there’s a very human vulnerability lurking just below the surface.
That vulnerability spills wide open on “Gulls Way,” the album’s emotional heart. Written following McCullough’s mother’s passing, the track channels deep grief without melodrama. Tremolo-picked guitars shimmer alongside a melodic, distorted bassline and some chiming guitar leads that would fit nicely on a Strokes record. The emotionally resonant material is performed with the punk-rock-cool of So Alone-era Johnny Thunders. It’s one of the longest songs on the record, closing with a fragile, repeated refrain of “all my love.” CIVIC have always sounded tough — here, they sound brave.
Then “The Hogg” crashes in like a pissed-off response to any perceived softness. With its “disgusting” riff and bratty swagger, it brings the filth and fury CIVIC made their name on. Think Dead Boys meets Aussie pub punk, but with a bit more existential weight: the song grapples with consciousness and the encroaching role of machines, all while sounding like a bar fight in sonic form. It's a raw, necessary jolt, reminding us who’s behind the wheel, even as they shift gears.
Midway through the album, “Starting All the Dogs Off” serves as its most dramatic outlier — and perhaps its most daring moment. Looser and more atmospheric than anything the band’s attempted before, it channels the seething energy of The Birthday Party or Fun House-era Stooges. McCullough draws inspiration from bush poetry to tell a surrealist tale of a soul wandering toward freedom, only to get snagged on the emotional detritus of life. It’s a prowling, chaotic number that builds to a single explosive release before receding into the mist. It’s a wild, uncomfortable, and weirdly perfect highlight.
Chrome Dipped album artwork by TRiC studio. Out today on ATO Records
“Trick Pony” reins things back into punk territory — but not without subversion. Under the song’s thudding beat, distorted bass, and frenetic pace are some of the record’s coolest guitar textures, bordering on pure noise. Vocal pads lurk in the background, adding a spooky depth that recalls Big Black by way of psychedelic punk. This one’s a standout: chaotic but clean, feral but smart. It’s CIVIC at their sharpest.
On “Amissus” (Latin for “loss”), the band opens another emotional vein. Sparkling guitars give the track an almost spiritual tone, floating in space where earlier tracks stomped through the dirt. It’s restrained, delicate, and spacious — a moment of reflection that deepens the album’s emotional range. After the sensory overload of “Trick Pony,” it lands like a breath of air after a plunge underwater.
“Fragrant Rice” arrives next, one of the record’s most exciting departures. The track’s robotic vocal delivery and relentless tempo mark new ground for the band. There’s a motorik intensity to the rhythm, giving the song a driving pulse that teeters on mechanical. And yet, lyrically, it tackles deeply human themes: family, lineage, and the fear of becoming someone else's keeper. It’s that tension — the cold surface with hot blood beneath — that gives Fragrant Rice its power.
CIVIC by Marcus Coblyn
On “Kingdom Come,” guitarist Lewis Hodgson steps to the mic for lead vocals, delivering what he calls “a ballad for a functional drug addict.” Musically, it’s one of the band’s most interesting combinations: a woozy mix of shoegaze drift and country lilt, all wrapped in understated emotion. It’s a track about control and letting go, both thematically and sonically, and it reveals yet another layer of depth to CIVIC’s expanding range.
The closer “Swing Of The Noose” presents nihilism, not as collapse, but as liberation. There’s a freeing quality to its fatalism, one that feels earned after the emotional arc of the album. It doesn’t go out with a bang but with a sense of acceptance, rounding off a journey that’s as psychological as it is sonic.
It’s worth noting what Chrome Dipped isn’t; it’s not CIVIC chasing mainstream polish or sacrificing grit for gloss. Rather, it’s an album that balances accessibility with ambition. It doesn’t abandon punk; it interrogates it, expands on it, and uses it as a foundation rather than a cage. The refusal to rely on guitar solos—a deliberate move by Hodgson—only reinforces the band’s commitment to shedding old habits in favor of a more intentional, mood-forward approach.
The result is an album that may confound some longtime fans at first—but as Hodgson said, that’s the point. Chrome Dipped is meant to challenge. To provoke. To shake you loose of expectation. And by the time you reach its final notes, you’re not only convinced that CIVIC can do whatever they want—you’re glad they did.
Occult Highlights: Poison, Trick Pony, Starting All the Dogs Off, The Fool, The Hogg
( but we recommend you spin the whole record till Kingdom Come)