After forming a year and a half ago, Halifax’s horror punk four-piece the Bloody Hell have just released their self-titled debut album. The release follows their singles “Evil Everywhere,” which was out this past February, and “Last Word,” which surfaced just seven days ago. With all of the dark and morbid imagery it has to offer, The Bloody Hell lives up to its genre while still discussing topics relatable to our everyday lives.
The album was recorded live off the floor over a four-month period at New Scotland Yard in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia and was engineered by Alex Burris. While the techniques used may make the album sound a little less polished than one with each part individually recorded and mastered, it helps to maintain the band’s live-performance energy and has resulted in a sound that fits right in with the gritty, noisy and loud qualities of the genre.
“[It] sounds just like our live shows – for better or worse,” says lyricist, vocalist and guitarist Ian Kean.
“We clicked with [Alex Burris] right away, and he understood exactly what we were try to accomplish and guided us safely to that goal. He even laughed at some of our horrible jokes.”
In terms of the genre, the band largely take influences from big horror-punk names like the Misfits: the band commonly known as the progenitors to the genre, namely in their earlier era with member Glenn Danzig.
“I grew up obsessing over old horror movies but never really made the connections to punk rock until I got into the Misfits. Instantly I thought ‘holy shit, this is the catchiest band ever but they sound so gross and punk rock. I f’n love this’,” continues Kean.
Horror-punk themes shine through especially in the lyrics of tracks “Speed Demon” and “Diggin,” which discuss such graveyard-esque things as demons and digging up graves. Underneath it all, though, both tracks happen to be written about the types of weird relationships the band members have found themselves wound up in. Also sinister in sound is the track “Evil Everywhere,” which dips into the realm of social commentary with its lyrics about how much harmful media we consume on a daily basis.
The majority of the other tracks on the album edge on more riff-rock or classic punk-rock sounds, like “Last Word,” which comes at you strong and fast. Tracks “Out of Our Minds” and “Drink Myself to Death” both touch on the overindulgence of substances, and while the former hits fast and even features a catchy recurring riff, the latter takes the pace down a little before “Uncharted” picks it back up again to close out the album.
The most noteworthy track of the release would have to be the opener, “Welcome to Hell.” A slow, deep piano melody starts off the track and is soon met by distorted guitar reverb and drum beats that vary in pace but gradually build up to a sort of controlled chaos in a Slayer-like manner. These sounds progress together until they are all of a sudden cut off and we are met with the simple piano again. Finally, with only about 20 seconds left, track finishes off with some slow-building squealing sounds. This track is quite different from the rest of the album, as opening tracks tend to be, but it’s so full of order and chaos and left turns and repetition all at once that it works wonders at getting the listener excited for what they may be in for with the remaining seven tracks.
With the better part of the tracks lasting three minutes or under, the album hits listeners in a true, high-speed punk fashion and is perfect to fulfill all of your jumping, slamming, thrashing and moshing needs.
But to make matters even more impressive, Kean started off his music career just a year and a half ago.
“When I started writing these songs, I had never written a song before. Once I started to piece them together, I was surprised how easily they came together,” he says.
“Only a year and a half ago I had never written a song, never sang in a band and didn’t really know how to play guitar, other than a few three-chord campfire hits.”
In response to this debut album, we say keep on rockin’, guys.
The Bloody Hell is available now on the band’s Bandcamp and will hopefully be available in hard copy in multiple locations. In the meantime, you can catch them tonight in Halifax for their album release show at Gus’ Pub with the Heart Attack Kids from London, Ontario; Diner Drugs from Moncton, New Brunswick; and local Halifax band Brass Antlers.