Saturday 8 December 2012

Hellbastard - Sons of Bitches EP (Review)

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: EP
Date Released: 20/12/2012
Label: PATAC Records


The whole thing works superbly well and comes from a band backed up by three decades of history. If you have an interest in the heavy, odd, forward thinking or music with a split personality- check this out. Fantastic stuff.

‘Sons of Bitches’ EP track Listing

1) Arcadia
2) Sons of Bitches
3) System Whore
4) We Had Evidence
5) Throw The Petrol Bomb

Hellbastard is

Malcolm "Scruff" Lewty | Vocals, Guitars
Tom McCombe | Guitars
Paul O'Shea | Bass Guitars
Josh "Buda" Harris | Drums

The Review

The John Peel endorsed Hellbastard are truly in a class of their own. You can't categorise it, other than to say it is a mixture of, amongst others: thrash, crust, punk and hardcore.

This five track EP kicks things off with “Arcadia. No death growls here- hardcore-ish vocals, lyrics about real things and a rhythmical approach make this opener grab the listener's attention. A killer riff snakes in at the 4 min mark, but the track will have made its mark on you by then. The production is clean and bright- if you didn't know; you could be forgiven for thinking that this was a brand new ground breaking band.


The title track gives us an almost death type riff to start but then the track grooves like American hardcore, the temp changes upwards the lyrics are full of vitriol- what is not to like here?! “System Whore” boasts a raging opening riff with an early lead break to keep you off balance. There are even echoes of, dare I suggest it, Cronos in the vocal approach here. Workplace/white collar sellouts seems to be the theme on this track, samples drop in an out and then, astonishingly, a mellow kind of proggy (?) section comes in just before the four minute mark to close out the track.

“We had Evidence” starts melodically but this vibe is replaced at 2.20 or so by a truly frenetic riff. A half time groove then jumps in and the vocals begin in earnest. There is even a Slayer type riff a little later to give us something to think about. Winston Churchill is sampled to great effect as the song reaches its rather unpredictable conclusion. “Throw The Petrol Bomb” is a reggae dub type track that will give all you budding and even seasoned anarchists something to think about and marks an interesting conclusion to this rather schizophrenic EP.

The whole thing works superbly well and comes from a band backed up by three decades of history. If you have an interest in the heavy, odd, forward thinking or music with a split personality- check this out. Fantastic stuff.

You can purchase the record here