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Hell To Pay - Bliss review




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Reviewer:
8.2

6 users:
7.33
Band: Hell To Pay
Album: Bliss
Release date: March 2018


01. Starve
02. Thrive
03. Bleed To Me
04. Static
05. Runaway
06. Void
07. Second Seal
08. Smear
09. Bliss

If you like your hardcore concise, heavy as a really heavy thing, and with just enough grind and noise influence, you're in for a treat.

Hell To Pay is a Philadelphia hardcore quartet, with most of the members having been active well before Hell To Pay was a thing and with a previous EP under their belt, so they're not really really newcomers, but fresh enough not to be tired old men; Bliss shows that they have something to say.

Barely hitting the 30-minute mark and with two of the tracks (the 5-minute "Runaway" and the 9-minute title track) taking about half of the run time, it's clear that the rest of the tracks are blisteringly fast and rightfully so. At their core, Hell To Pay play a mix of hardcore and grindcore, so most of the time this is what you'll hear, but Bliss is more than that. Noise is another big element here, mostly as an interlude between tracks, but prominent enough to be a clear influence, almost in a dose so that people who couldn't stand a Pulse Demon listen will start seeing the appeal of the pulsating ambiance. The lo-fi production does wonders to make this album a much more uncompromisingly harsh listen.

Alongside the noise, there's also plenty of samples, which tie in with the themes of the albums, mainly revolutionary and anti-establishment ideas, thus samples from Noam Chomsky and Angela Davis speeches fit right in, as well as a recording of "Battle Hymn Of The Republic" to end the album ironically in a fascist fashion. The lyrics are delivered mostly in grind fashion so often you need to have the lyric sheet nearside, though it's not the case more often than not, as the really hard-hitting lines, like the opener "Bite the hand that won't fucking feed" are clear as anything can be in this album. Though most vocals are grind/hardcore, the vocals are fairly dynamic in a lot of places, and not only them. "Bleed To Me" does the hardcore a favour with a colossal breakdown, "Void" and "Second Seal" give nods to thrash and blackened death metal riffing, and then there's "Runaway", which completely turns Bliss on its head with its eerie, doom metal-infused, slowed-down sound and creepy clean vocals.

There is a lot that keeps Bliss incredibly engaging and interesting to listen to. An absolutely extreme album that does find time to breathe and try and tell you something even through all that blistering noise.

If you're also sick and tired of the taste of shit, give it a listen.





Written on 19.05.2018 by Doesn't matter that much to me if you agree with me, as long as you checked the album out.


Comments

Comments: 2   Visited by: 48 users
20.05.2018 - 19:59
Marcus
Doit Like Bernie
I don't know a ton about hardcore still, so I don't know how it compares to the rest of the genre, but I dug the hell out of this album. Loved how varied it was in such a short span and am a huge sucker for samples. Thanks for giving it some attention
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20.05.2018 - 20:52
Auntie Sahar
Drone Empress
This is just fun as all fuck, great pick and review. Strong example of how to keep hardcore interesting.
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I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go.

~ II. VII
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