To say that Hellscape’s self-titled record is amazing would be an understatement because this joint is fucking fantastic!!! When I heard their song “Cujo,” I was taken back to June 26, 1984, which is the night I saw 45 Grave perform with Faith No More (Cliff Burton of Metallica joined them this night and I was high on X-Tasy for the first time). The point being is that this band has found a way to balance legit Death Rock with the urgency of Peace Punk. The tones and melody on this record are total blackened perfection! Their song “The Grave” is a release-the-bats anthem that means the world to me now and would have had me dancing with ghoulish homies during the 80s. Don’t get it twisted, Hellscape’s sonics give a nod to the past while pointing us to the real future of Death Punk aka Deathrock. What I love about their sound is that at no time do they come off as pretentious or contrived. Actually, on every second of this EP, all I can hear is their undying passion for their craft! The song “Dybbuk” is spot on and full of the right amount of dirge. Both the vocalist and the lyrical content are beyond awesome. Unholy hell yes, the basslines on this EP rule, and they way they inject their songs with the right amount of morbid atmosphere leaves me wanting to hear more them for sure. If Hellscape reads this, I would like for them to know that my 15-year-old self would love to have seen them live and my 55-year-old self can’t stop thinking that Deathrock will never DIE! You can pick up this gnarly EP via Donor Records and Advanced Perspective.
Photo via Joe Steven Hart @joestevenhart
