British screamo group Chalk Hands make good on their promise of “loud sad songs” on their second full-length.
Release date: March 27, 2026 | Dog Knights Productions | Instagram | Facebook | Bandcamp
I’ve been a fan of Chalk Hands since their debut full-length, 2022’s Don’t Think About Death, made the rounds through the underground grapevine. The band’s take on screamo – complete with spit-choked vocals, noodly guitar lines, and a bleak, post-rockish atmosphere – was not especially groundbreaking, but it was performed with such raw feeling and gusto that it was instantly appealing to myself and many connoisseurs of the genre. If you’re into groups such as Frail Body, Oathbreaker, and Svalbard, you’d find much to chew on with Chalk Hands‘ sonic brew. Four long years later, we’re treated to The Line That Shapes the Coast of Us and, I’m happy to report, the band has lost none of the fire and brimstone of their previous offering. What they’ve gained, however, is what makes the wait worthwhile.
The pre-release singles showcase Chalk Hands at their most immediate and acerbic. “Pauvre de Moi” (“Poor Me”) in particular features a harrowing bridge section with swaying drum fills and tremolo guitars that absolutely bury the listener, imbuing a sense of despair and desperation that the lyrics might obscure to the layman (ie. non-French speakers). “Breaking Waves” opens with whimsical guitar and shouted vocals before the punk thrashing commences, but remarkably the tone remains triumphant and buoyant throughout as the lyrics – ‘With all the things I adore/A final farewell/And a face full of smile/I hope to lay to rest‘ – speak not to youthful denial and stubbornness but to wizened resignation and acceptance. “Rewired Eyes” works in D-beats to punctuate its mellower reflections on ‘Like minds, unlike minded/I’ll hide and you’ll find me‘, each section flowing naturally into the next by carrying over musical themes and ideas and allowing them to develop organically. This triptych of songs alone places The Line That Shapes the Coast of Us at a high-flying bar.
One would be mistaken, however, in thinking these singles represent the totality of Chalk Hands‘ ideas. The album gets off to a subversive start with “Ember Lane”, which one may mistake for a TTNG song at first before the vocal lashings begin, tortured and cracking and gasping for air. “Peregrine” contains a guitar riff that could’ve been ripped straight out of the 90s alternative metal playbook, but it’s ingeniously tied to the the subdued verse’s low-laying bassline in its mood and styling – by the time the last leg of the song rolls around, stomping ahead in half-time with a sinister grin, one is left bowled over by the plethora of ideas and the aplomb with which they’re carried out. By contrast, “Your Skin is Gold” keeps with its funky, shoegazey tone even as rapid snare drum rolls and polyrhythmic switch-ups distort the song’s structure – for the first half, that is, as the second half turns soft and builds back up in breathtaking fashion. Gang vocals enter to shout out the song’s title, drummer Gary Marsden pulls out every trick up his up sleeve until, again, the noise falls away while a forlorn clean vocal continues to sing the title. The longing, the intensity, the honesty all coalesce into the climactic, dramatic highlight of the album.
What follows is “Sleep Tapes”, which closes The Line That Shapes the Coast of Us on an understated, poignant note. Gentle acoustic guitar and feedback herald the song into view, while the hushed singing of ‘When I’m put down/Into the ground/What sky will I meet/When I finally sleep?‘ is supremely affecting. It puts into perspective the emotional and musical rawness of the rest of the album, culminating in what could almost read as a lullaby for existentialists. Chalk Hands say that our shared neuroses – repressing our guilt, running from our problems, confronting death – are what shape us into human beings. The discomfort is part of the journey that we’re on together; it’s a line that we all have to cross sooner or later. This thematic resonance is bound to find its place in the hearts of screamo, post-rock, and math rock fans the world over, as it has mine.
