Bearing in mind your reviewer (and probably most potential new listeners) struggled to begin to get his head around Boutique's re-issue of CRAWLING CHAOS's infamous Factory Records debut album "The Gas Chair", then the idea of a quick follow-up with "Homunculus Equinox" - originally the band's cassette-only second album from 1982 - seems a tad over-generous.
However, considering that these 17 tracks are culled from the same lo-fi sessions at Chaos's own Pits studio in Tynemouth that spawned the bizarre "Gas Chair", re-releasing them now initially seems a reasonable move as the album's newly-reinstated opening pair of tracks "Block Numbers" and "Danger In Paradise" are both intriguing, dread'n'wonder-filled soundscapes, with (again) a distinct Krautrock influence. The former is a mornful instrumental, while the latter features John Barry-style spy guitars and speeds up to take in a noir-ish commentary. Surprisingly good.
Sadly, though, from there on in, things collapse into wilful, irritating obscurity and ultimately it's no surprise that Factory baulked at releasing further Choas material, even though the band's Residents-style anonymity remains to this very day.
Unfortunately, here the mystery evaporates where the music is concerned and from third track "What's Your Noise?" on, CC are in trouble here. That track is merely stuttery, percussive bollocks, a bit like Blurt or a bad take on PIL circa "Metal Box", but even this doesn't prepare you for garbage like the sub-reggae pop cack of "Fuel For The Blonde Ethiopian" and its' nonsense lyrics ("I bring loofahs to my Grandpa's grave" - like, unhuh?) or "Vallium B" - a funked-up spacerock take of "To Be A Pilgrim" anyone? - or the ridiculous "Heavy Luvin", where t'Chaos try to shove cucumbers down their strides and become Lynyrd Skynyrd -with Geordie accents, like. Way yer bugger, man!
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Brief glints of sunlight do occasionally illuminate the drivel. "Stinging Gnats" for instance, is enjoyable, lo-fi semi-acoustic instrumental pop with a purpose other than to irritate and their bizarre version of The Beatles' "Taste Of Honey" gets by on audacity alone. But these are the exceptions rather than the rule, and when you reach farty obscurities such as "The Mongolian Steak Bar" and the Godawful "Suck" - 11 minutes of flatulence even the Pop Group at their most excessive would tack away from - the art-rock veneer is being stripped very thinly indeed.
In principle, Crawling Chaos remain a good, disturbing idea, but in practice they are often every bit as irritating and time-wasting as many of the anaemic indie also-rans they no doubt formed to act as an antidote to over two decades back. Liberally edited, "Homunculus Equinox" could make a decent EP which would bear rediscovery 20 years on, but in this full-length form the art conceit - and eventually the joke - remains very much on them.
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