Hellbastard - Sons Of Bitches
Another long overdue review here, mostly because I've been enjoying this EP so much. Crusty fucks Hellbastard are a band that I was introduced to very early on in my heavy metal adolescence, having been given their second album Natural Order on cassette sometime in 2001 which I was absolutely hooked on for a good few months. After seeing them live for the first time in 2011 (and interviewing them sheepishly having had no prior knowledge to their reformation) I delved back into their catalogue headfirst and gorged myself stupid on their 2009 album The Need to Kill and it's following EP Eco War, and rubbed my hands with glee for over a year in eager anticipation for Sons of Bitches. Hellbastard preach the truth. They're a rare band that have no rockstar attitude or illusions of stardom, instead laying out their observations of mankind right in front of your eyes, point at them and saying "What the FUCK is this shit for?!" in true crust style. There's no overblown technical wizardry or ten minute epics, just straight up, fast, angry music made by extremely angry people. And that's something that a lot of modern bands can learn from.
I remember frontman Scruff Lewty once saying that all the attitude and passion in this sort of music had completely gone and that far too many bands were playing it safe, or expecting an easy ride to glory with the rise of social media sites and the like. And he makes a very good point - a lot of bands now don't have the legitimate rage behind their music and don't bother playing shows extensively to promote themselves. He also made many observations of bands being completely unwilling to try anything new or vaguely different musically, instead just rehashing or carbon copying old bands and failing to establish any form of identity. I'm a bit guilty of some of these crimes myself, but I can't help but agree with him entirely... because of the mass adoption of this sort of attitude towards extreme music, I feel an overwhelming sense of comfort and relief to have a band like Hellbastard put out an EP such as Sons of Bitches. Say what you will, Scruff and his lads practice what they preach - there's some very interesting stuff going on here with the composition. Arcadia and System Whore in particular vary their atmosphere in an almost schizophrenic fashion, sometimes showing some surprising elements that I would never have expected Hellbastard to adopt - certain sections are reminiscent of Coroner's Grin album of all things, which though unintentional on Hellbastards part, is a monstrous feat in itself. There is some silliness here with Throw The Petrol Bomb which is a bloody reggae track of all things yet it still has an underlying message - another thing that Hellbastard always excel at. A lot of bands use clever metaphors to mask the message they're putting across, and although Hellbastard like to lay it out in the open a lot they also take the aforementioned metaphor-cloaking to an even further extreme on occasion. Scruff wants you to listen, he wants you to pay attention and actually, y'know... THINK. Remember thinking? Probably not, when was the last time a metal album required you to use your brain? There's far more to this EP than heaviness and good songwriting. Sometimes it's obvious, others it's cleverly tucked away for you to discover by yourself. For those who just want to enjoy some heavy music, you'll be more than satisfied too - Sons of Bitches is an extremely heavy EP with only a few breather breaks before it comes back to kick your teeth in, and longtime Hellbastard fans get a treat with a re-recorded version of We Had Evidence from the band's debut album Heading For Internal Darkness. And guess what? It's actually superior to the original. Yeah, I wasn't expecting that either.
I'm just ranting at this point. Again. Simply put, I love everything about Sons of Bitches and everything that it stands for, and you should too. The digital edition of Sons of Bitches has 12.12.81 as a bonus track which was written by Scruff and recorded by Nero Circus in 1996, and it's a neat little extra to throw on the end of the release despite being quite an obvious 'bonus track' for some. Alas, Hellbastard's Sons of Bitches is the best thing that the band has ever done - yes, even better than Heading For Internal Darkness - and it's more addictive than a banoffee heroin party. Those who want some truth with their music, those who want something a bit daring and off the cuff and even those who just want some good heavy music... look no further than Sons of Bitches. Hellbastard deserve your respect.
I remember frontman Scruff Lewty once saying that all the attitude and passion in this sort of music had completely gone and that far too many bands were playing it safe, or expecting an easy ride to glory with the rise of social media sites and the like. And he makes a very good point - a lot of bands now don't have the legitimate rage behind their music and don't bother playing shows extensively to promote themselves. He also made many observations of bands being completely unwilling to try anything new or vaguely different musically, instead just rehashing or carbon copying old bands and failing to establish any form of identity. I'm a bit guilty of some of these crimes myself, but I can't help but agree with him entirely... because of the mass adoption of this sort of attitude towards extreme music, I feel an overwhelming sense of comfort and relief to have a band like Hellbastard put out an EP such as Sons of Bitches. Say what you will, Scruff and his lads practice what they preach - there's some very interesting stuff going on here with the composition. Arcadia and System Whore in particular vary their atmosphere in an almost schizophrenic fashion, sometimes showing some surprising elements that I would never have expected Hellbastard to adopt - certain sections are reminiscent of Coroner's Grin album of all things, which though unintentional on Hellbastards part, is a monstrous feat in itself. There is some silliness here with Throw The Petrol Bomb which is a bloody reggae track of all things yet it still has an underlying message - another thing that Hellbastard always excel at. A lot of bands use clever metaphors to mask the message they're putting across, and although Hellbastard like to lay it out in the open a lot they also take the aforementioned metaphor-cloaking to an even further extreme on occasion. Scruff wants you to listen, he wants you to pay attention and actually, y'know... THINK. Remember thinking? Probably not, when was the last time a metal album required you to use your brain? There's far more to this EP than heaviness and good songwriting. Sometimes it's obvious, others it's cleverly tucked away for you to discover by yourself. For those who just want to enjoy some heavy music, you'll be more than satisfied too - Sons of Bitches is an extremely heavy EP with only a few breather breaks before it comes back to kick your teeth in, and longtime Hellbastard fans get a treat with a re-recorded version of We Had Evidence from the band's debut album Heading For Internal Darkness. And guess what? It's actually superior to the original. Yeah, I wasn't expecting that either.
I'm just ranting at this point. Again. Simply put, I love everything about Sons of Bitches and everything that it stands for, and you should too. The digital edition of Sons of Bitches has 12.12.81 as a bonus track which was written by Scruff and recorded by Nero Circus in 1996, and it's a neat little extra to throw on the end of the release despite being quite an obvious 'bonus track' for some. Alas, Hellbastard's Sons of Bitches is the best thing that the band has ever done - yes, even better than Heading For Internal Darkness - and it's more addictive than a banoffee heroin party. Those who want some truth with their music, those who want something a bit daring and off the cuff and even those who just want some good heavy music... look no further than Sons of Bitches. Hellbastard deserve your respect.
1. Wolfsong/Arcadia
2. Sons Of Bitches
3. We Had Evidence
4. System Whore
5. Throw The Petrol Bomb
6. 12.12.81 (Digital Bonus Track)
2. Sons Of Bitches
3. We Had Evidence
4. System Whore
5. Throw The Petrol Bomb
6. 12.12.81 (Digital Bonus Track)
Label: http://www.patacrecords.com
Reviewer: Dave Ingram Jr.
May 14, 2013
May 14, 2013
Next review:
Macabre Demise - Stench Of Death
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