Hellrad-Things Never Change
- By Patrick Wooten
- Jul 31, 2015
- 5 min read
Track 1. Street Zombies- A sound of massive warning approaches your ears like an on coming invasion. It echoes in a solid piercing distortion. Slow strained chords rock your skull. Along with a minimalist groove that turns into a crunch fest meant for hell maybe. The sound quality is slightly muffled, though the syncopation is interesting and cool. An interesting overlay of the drums takes over, but then the song just turns from great into total noise. The vocals are completely inaudible, almost like they complete distorted electricity. The music drags some, though the interesting muffled groove, if that's what you'd like to call it returns. I do like the drumming here. Is that some bass that is sliding into the mix for a moment? Instrumental parts seem ok, the vocals I can't stand. A fuzz like over stated distort melody is very present. And the music, continues to drag after alternating from it's 'groove' to the slower fuzzy parts. Parts of this first track were just a bit entertaining though very little.
Track 2. Jihad- A very slow yet noise filled opening here, the drums are crisp, guitar riffs can't be audibly made out. Vocals are low strained inaudible bursts of pain seemingly. This is probably the music I'd play on the loudest setting if I were going to torture someone. Thankfully a halfway interesting fuzzy syncopation takes it's turn giving the song a touch of headway. The song really begins to slow down, and a dark melodic force actually brings forth some cool metal type moments here. You still can't here the vocals for shit. Sound is an major issue here.
Track 3. Dopefiend Jesus- A muffled bassline and an inaudible vocalist has been this thing. If this music had better sound quality I would very likely enjoy it more, some parts that you can here, seem entertaining and cool, but they are so muffled. I think there might be some potential here if they just have better recording quality there is some decent syncopation here, the feedback is fucking annoying. The music has a cool rocking feel to it at this point you can hear the music a bit, decent solo that you can barely make out. It has almost a classic metal feel to it, especially with that bass guitar being so thick in the mix. Just needs better sound quality the vocalist still sounds like shit also.
Track 4. Homegrown Terrorist- A vocalist speaks some military mumbo jumbo bullshit about awards. The music quickly busts into the flavor this band is known for a low dooming presence of fuzzy bass, and a dark distortion. The vocals, again. SUCK. They'd be better off with cookie monster on the vocals than this guy, but who knows maybe this vocalist if given a chance with BETTER recording quality he could fool even me, the reviewer. Still loving the drums and bass guitar here. The electric guitar riffs are slow and stirring, nothing overly impressive, still decent though, it just drags. The music quiets down as the annoying feedback takes control for just a moment. The 'melody' of the fuzzed syncopation returns. The music honestly, at this point is a complete bore, it's that same old fucking riff, beginning to feel a bit watered down.
Track 5. Fuckup- I think this song might sum this album up, or at least the recording quality. A fuzzy doom filled melody conspires in the air around your cranium. A tight and yet slow drum beat plays. The music quickly settles into a slow, yet fuzzy groove with a seemingly heavy distortion though VERY fuzzy. I am enjoying the drumming still. The vocals sound horrible in the mix still, almost like a dying animal perhaps, one that you can barely hear. The music begins to do what this band does, drag, and become watered down, the same riff is played over and over again. You become bored. Nothing about this music is impressive or exciting maybe except the drums. The music ACTUALLY changes, becoming faster, changing riffs and syncopation BUT you can not make out the riffs' or anything because the quality or the recording has become very fuzzy, though the lead guitar solo pokes through the mix just for a second. The syncopation seems interesting. Hellrad if you read this, know this, get better recording quality and you'll have something with your music, but in this state, it's not much at all. The music reverts to it's boring dragging hook state, I liked the aggressive syncopation. That's actually the first time in this album that something really excited me.
Track 6. 15years and counting- Another slow heavy foot dragging groove begins this. A riff plays all alone as feedback strains your ears for a moment. The annoying sound filters through the track, as you can barely hear the drums which are actually worth a damn. The music kicks up and play's another interesting mix of kick ass grooving music, that's the kind of shit this band needs to do, instead of playing music that drags. I have liked the aggression, though the recording quality here still sucks, as do the vocals, they sound like a very distant scream of rushing death, pure shit. The music quiets down for a moment but kicks back into the kick ass aggression that I liked, just wish that I could hear this better. Things slow down hear and begin to drag again quite badly. The song ends as a VERY annoying sputtering of feedback cascades away from you.
Track 7. Smokemorecrack- This music sound's out of its fucking mind at the very beginning. An interesting wah can be heard, but the music busts into all out fucked up noise. The drums can be made out, the bass like distortion is somewhat interesting, recording quality still very questionable. Please clean this up, and I guarantee it will sound better. Some stuff here, I think has potential. Recording quality is KILLING this review, as are these fucking vocals. The constant dragging parts in the music are a major problem with this music, WHY wait so damn long in the album to actually become aggressive in the music? And the final words that I hear on the record, are a dubbed in vocalist saying how much a band sucks. IF that's not what I call the kettle calling the pot black I don't know what the fuck is. I will say this, most of this review was not easy, very few parts I found impressive or liked. The aggressive grooves halfway entertaining, as well as the drumming and bass guitar parts in spots. The bad? The recording quality and VOCALS killed this fucking review. Rating 2/10
Comments