The long wait is over.  With the release last Friday of IV-Rx, Outlaw Industrial Rockers CHMCL STR8JCKT end close to three years of recorded silence with their most dramatic album yet, and their first since the installation of producer John “JB” Bechdel (Ministry, Killing Joke) as their full time synth master.

Frontman and keyboard player Kevin Snell enthuses, “It is an evolution, for sure, as we went with more focus on the ‘rock’ part of ‘industrial rock.’  We were definitely more picky with everything…redoing many tracks. Mike C would re-record his guitars…..JB would replace my synths with better sounding synths, etc.

Stuffed full with pulsing synthesizers, coruscating riffery, the darkest themes and the mightiest of crowd-crunching hooks, the album “continues our evolution of Outlaw Industrial Rock.  But while it’s still a very digital album, we concentrated much more on the guitar riffs and guitar sound. It’s just where we drifted to…and we are all happy with the vibe. It’s still full of dark themes and synths and atmospheres, but I wrote around Mike C’s riffs in many cases….allowing the guitar to share the stage more.”

IV-Rx also marks the first occasion upon which the trio of Snell, C and JB have worked on an album completely remotely, from Texas, New Jersey and Pennsylvania respectively.   

“We had to learn to communicate without being in the same room,” says Snell, “which took us a few weeks to figure out! It certainly helps to be in a band with two of the greatest guys that I’ve ever known. 

“And, it’s all worth it when you get that mix of a new song that makes everyone smile. It’s an album that really represents us all in themes and instrumentation.”

To help celebrate the album’s release, Chmcl Str8jckt have also dropped a lyric video for one of the album’s stand-out tracks, the aptly-titled “The Devil Made Me Do It”… “it’s not a new single,” says Snell, “but it’ll give you a good idea of what to expect from the album.”

IV-Rx is Chmcl Str8jckt’s​third Cleopatra release, the latest highlight in a relationship that confirms both the band’s status in the modern industrial firmament, and Cleopatra’s long, long-standing role at the forefront of the original industrial revolution – the label has championed the genre almost since its inception in the early 1990s, and overseen many of its most influential convolutions.

Outlaw Industrial Rock, however, is one of the most thrilling of them all.  And IV-Rx is just what the doctor ordered.

DIGITAL: https://orcd.co/chmclstr8jckt_ivrx

With their first new album since 2021, the mighty IV- Rx,​now poised for release, and with Halloween only just around the corner as well, Outlaw Industrial Rockers Chmcl Str8jckt today unveil their latest single, a stunning cover of the old Steve Miller Band seasonal chestnut “Abracabra” – which rhymes of course, with “wanna reach out and grab ya.”   Ah, they don’t write couplets like that, anymore.

It was, says keyboard player and frontman Kevin Snell, the final track that he and bandmates Mike C and John Bechdel (Ministry, Killing Joke) recorded for the album.  Although he didn’t think it would so easy getting the band to do it.

“We thought it would be good to end the (occasionally grueling) sessions with a light cover of a popular song. I picked ‘Abracadabra’ because I always kinda liked the original…but also thought it was cheesy as hell.”  In fact, when he recorded the demo, he was more or less convinced that the remainder of the band would hate it.

“It’s kinda poppy for an otherwise pretty heavy album that we had just created”

Instead… “Mike C loved it and tuned to a drop A on a 7 string guitar to give it some heavy guitar crunch. JB (Bechdel) actually loves a good digital dance groove (think early Ministry) and went to town on the synths and drum machines really taking my demo to the next level. Bam! It’s done and the sessions ended on a really fun note.”

SINGLE: https://orcd.co/chmclstr8jckt_abracadabra

So, in fact, does the album.  “Our mastering engineer, Maor Appelbaum, picked the song order for the album….having it start very heavy [the band’s last single, “Anaesthesia”] and slowly lighten up by the end until you have “Abracadabra” and the truly outrageous “Buffalo” to close it out .”

IV-Rx, Snell goes on, “continues our evolution of Outlaw Industrial Rock.” Stuffed full with pulsing synthesizers, coruscating riffery, the darkest themes and the mightiest of crowd-crunching hooks, it is also Chmcl Str8jckt’s third Cleopatra release, the latest highlight in a relationship that confirms both the band’s status in the modern industrial firmament, and Cleopatra’s long, long-standing role at the forefront of the original industrial revolution – the label has championed the genre almost since its inception in the early 1990s, and overseen many of its most influential convolutions.

Outlaw Industrial Rock, however, is one of the most thrilling of them all.  So whip out your magic wand and a long black cloak, utter the magic word… and IV-Rx will be here before you know it.

DIGITAL: https://orcd.co/chmclstr8jckt_ivrx

Outlaw Industrial Rockers CHMCL STR8JCKT return with their first new album since 2021’s Drk Prgrssn, and with it, a portal into a whole new dimension of the band’s traditional intrigue – a wild acceleration, says frontman/vocalist Kevin Snell, of “our love of hard rock and industrial music with a touch of Western flavor.”

“IV-Rx continues our evolution of Outlaw Industrial Rock. It’s heavier and darker, yet melodic, inspired by bands like Killing Joke and Ministry” – and that’s no surprise.  

Joining Snell and bandmate Mike C, guitarist/keyboard whizz John Bechdel – both a current member of Ministry, and a former Killing Joke-r  – steps out from behind the production desk (he oversaw Chmcl Str8jckt’s last two albums, 2019’s Wrtchd Thngs and 2021’s Drk Prgrssn) to add his own sonic sorceries to the maelstrom.

And the album gets off to a startling start as well, previewed today by the band’s nightmare-lashed new video, “Anaesthesia.”

“It’s both the first single and the album opener because it sets the tone for what is to come,” affirms Snell.  “It’s dark and heavy with a chunky metal guitar riff and a Gary Numan inspired synth line. It has the feel of an anthem!”  In fact, the entire album is stuffed full with pulsing synthesizers, coruscating riffery, the darkest themes and the mightiest of crowd-crunching hooks.

SINGLE: https://orcd.co/chmclstr8jkt_anaesthesia

Formed in 2017 by newly re-united childhood friends C and Snell, Chmcl Str8jckt started life as a tribute to the legendary Wax Trax sound they so loved during their teen years of  the late 80’s/early 90’s – fused, among other things, with the very young Snell’s love of Black Sabbath.

“When I was eight or so, I heard ‘Electric Funeral’ for the first time. It changed my life! I was scared…..excited….and completely hooked. If we could have that effect…even just a little on someone… our mission is accomplished.”

Releasing their self-titled debut album within months of forming, Chmcl Str8Jckt quickly caught John Bechdel’s ear and, under his guidance, the duo moved swiftly from emulating bands like RevCo and KMFDM on their debut, to truly developing the sound of Outlaw Industrial Rock – old school industrial meets the new wave of technology to create a whole new, and supremely sinister primal scream. Or, as Snell puts it, “the post-apocalyptic cowboy.”

“I love westerns. I read a lot about Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and such.” He singles out Wrtchd Thngs’ “Ode To Peckinpah” as a musical starting point for the fusion, “a tribute to the quite mad western film maker! Mike added a great western guitar riff to my keyboards and it just sets the mood perfectly.”

It’s a contagious vibe, too.  “Even our tracks that are completely not western sounding have an apocalyptic vibe to them.”

Picture, he says, “a badass in a duster walking down a bombed out city street.”

IV-Rx is Chmcl Str8jckt’s third Cleopatra release, the latest highlight in a relationship that confirms both the band’s status in the modern industrial firmament, and Cleopatra’s long, long-standing role at the forefront of the original industrial revolution – the label has championed the genre almost since its inception in the early 1990s, and overseen many of its most influential convolutions.

Outlaw Industrial Rock, however, is one of the most thrilling of them all.  So take the anaesthesia now… and the IV-Rx won’t be too far away.

DIGITAL: https://orcd.co/chmclstr8jckt_ivrx