[engl] “I somehow missed that the Chicago hardcore punks C.H.E.W. broke up, but if we get Stress Positions out of the deal, I ain't mad about it. Stephanie Brooks now fronts the ex-C.H.E.W. dudes, but it's not a cut and paste job — where C.H.E.W. relied on speed and swagger, Stress Positions wide-screens the pit's psychedelic vista. There's a little more metal riffage and mid-tempo tension to maximize the intensity so that, once the band revs to hallucinatory level, the impact is devastating.” -Lars Gotrich