Gravestone Skylines

It was a long time since I heard Hellmouth (well, three years to be specific). I received their demo back in 2008, after which they apparently signed a record deal within a week, so I guess some people really heard their potential. The album that deal birthed never made it to me, and I was in fact oblivious to the whole thing before receiving this, their new album, in the mail and reading the promo sheet that followed it. And amidst this text they reveal the fact that the limited LP press (66 copies) of Gravestone skylines actually included the ashes of a bible from the late 1800s that the guys burnt in their rehearsal room. I guess that really would piss of the general right-wing Christians of America, that unfortunately seem to monopolize their state and media.

Hellmouth aren’t afraid of pissing people off, which is made perfectly clear by their lyrics, where almost half of it seems to be a great big pile of shit on religion and modern society, the rest of which paints a bleak picture of reality and a wish for a final nuclear war to erase mankind. I guess that’s not too damn unusual topics, but their lyrics are quite well-written, even the shorter and more basic ones feels very honest and personal, with a genuine hatred behind it. It doesn’t come off as lyrics just for the sake of covering these topics, but actual emotions and genuine hatred. That’s a real strong-suit, I might add. The message is delivered in a raspy and ripping screaming voice, and the aggressive touch is ace.

Musically this is, to be perfectly honest, not my usual cup of tea. I rarely listen to thrashcore bands and I almost never listen to thrash metal bands, and this carries attributes of them both. While I can’t help but feel the Slayer influences obvious at times, I for the first time really hear the Disfear nods with The sun is dying, that of the Tompa generation of Disfear. I’ve never been a fan of said band’s later efforts, but I do however absolutely love their earlier releases, so I suppose it’s still a somewhat comforting influence (to me) for Hellmouth to have. The riffing in a track like The calling part I carries a psychedelic 70ies Black Sabbath vibe, just as the tune brings forth a doomy and spooky section.

There are definitely a lot of different influences combined here, and they handle it very slickly. Even the absolute rager of Hands like spiders (which is without a doubt the best song on the album, despite the fact that it’s only 21 seconds long) they pull it off in a blazingly blasting thrashcore manner. It’s a very fluent record, sounding heavy and raw, and looking absolutely killer. Despite the fact that I’d say this style would be too melodic for me, and they do have a good sense of melody too, there’s enough brutality and aggression to convince even a grind/death metal head like me.

Originally written for My Last Chapter