Hellshock

Reviews

Hellshock XXV 12″

It seems not so long ago since HELLSHOCK’s 2022 LP came out, a record I could not quite totally get into, I must admit, because it relied too much on classic death metal and it basically lost me—of course, it was certainly more than good enough when in the mood for mean, BOLT THROWER-flavoured music. The fantasy-themed cover of this new LP looks like a scene from The Lord of the Rings and is (I can barely write it) in colour, undeniably a blasphemous cardinal scene in the crust realm. I was more than a little skeptical before playing this, and how wrong I was. The lugubrious BOLT THROWER worship still rules, but the recruitment of Todd Burdette on second guitar brings a significantly different vibe to the songwriting, making it more epic, murkier, but still generating that ominous atmospheric heaviness. The songs are rather long, thoughtfully built, and tell great, albeit really fucking dark, stories. HELLSHOCK are still certainly themselves, and the album will not disappoint fans of gruff metal crust and stenchcore revivalists, but they also offer something more articulate, progressive even, and dare I say it, subtle here (assuming the perfect soundtrack for a malevolent skeleton armies and being growled at by a zombified bear fit the concept of subtlety). The LP has been on heavy rotation here, and I see it as the perfect evolution for the band. XXV is bound to become a classic crust album, not because it abides by the rulebook, but because it creates something new and inventive without discarding the band’s identity. They do not sound alike, but I see records like COUNTERBLAST’s Balance of Pain or SKAVEN’s EP in much the same way. You know what to do.

Hellshock Hellshock LP

Like many soap-dodging, crust-loving punks of my generation, HELLSHOCK is a band that has had a massive influence on me (especially as far as my crust-pants wearing habits go), and the ’00s stenchcore revival that followed in their wake was brilliant and probably the first meaningful wave I felt a part of—let’s not count the sloppy CASUALTIES cosplay of the late ’90s. I still play the early records regularly, and while time was not so kind to some of the ’00s metal crust bands, HELLSHOCK still sounds genuinely brilliant. The world left them at They Wait For You Still in 2009, an album infused with Japanese hardcore which I have always been quite undecided about. It was not a bad piece of work, but I could not relate to it that much, and in the end did not care much about it. When this brand new album recently came out, I was very curious like everyone I suppose, but did not expect too much. And sadly, I cannot say I care about this one either. This time, HELLSHOCK are full-on old school death metal and, apart from the odd crust overtone, the band of yore is definitely gone. I am sure they still sound like a freight train live, but this LP leaves me a bit cold, like death metal does in general. One can safely assume that death metal fans would be well into it. I do think the artwork looks brilliant, though.