Hellmouth
Gravestone Skylines

Hellmouth is the music equivalent of their hometown Detroit: violent, grimy, pissed off and ugly. Their debut, Destroy Everything, Worship Nothing was a feral but ultimately forgetful  crossover assault of black metal, thrash and punk, but on their follow up, Gravestone Skylines, with the same musical influences,  the band has improved their sneering sonic violence, making for a nerve wrecking sonic visage of Detroit’s ghetto.

With a sound that I think lies somewhere between Black Flag, , Uphill Battle and Infernal Stronghold, Hellmouth don’t fuck about. The 15 song, 33 minute drive by is a snarling, seething ball of hateful, pissed of energy directed at everything from war, religion, Armageddon, Detroit and drugs. Vocalist Jay Navarro fuels the diatribes with his throaty rasps and shouts while the music scratches, kicks, punches and bites its way into your psyche.

The improved song writing, raw but powerful crossover production and smartly pissed of lyrics all come together to make the likes of the aptly titled  “Spitting Blood and Teeth”, “Desperate and Violent”, “Amen, Assholes”, ‘Tragedy of a City”, “Vultures and Crows”and personal favorite the controlled rage of  ‘Lions”, a bristling affair that will leave you in shock with ample blasts, grooves and tenacity.

However, the album’s last two tracks “The Calling” parts 1 and 2, show a deeper side to Hellmouth, calling on influences  and tracks by name (“War Pigs”, “Wasted”, “Battery”, “Crypt of Rays”) on part 1  with a dirty Southern haze and even a rather beautiful piano closing before a skin peeling blackened punk beat-down closes the album out suddenly and with a nasty exclamation.

I like the jump Hellmouth have made from album number one to album number two, and in today’s uncertain times Gravestone Skylines is the perfect soundtrack for uprising, riots and revolution.

 

[Visit the band's website]
Written by Erik T
July 26th, 2011

Comments

  1. Commented by: vugelnox

    “With a sound that I think lies somewhere between Black Flag, , Uphill Battle and Infernal Stronghold” – SOLD


Leave a Reply

Privacy notice: When you submit a comment, your creditentials, message and IP address will be logged. A cookie will also be created on your browser with your chosen name and email, so that you do not need to type them again to post a new comment. All post and details will also go through an automatic spam check via Akismet's servers and need to be manually approved (so don't wonder about the delay). We purge our logs from your meta-data at frequent intervals.

  • Mythbegotten - Tales from the Unseelie Court
  • Worm Shepherd - Hunger
  • Chained to the Dead - Only Hunger Remains EP
  • Entheos - An End to Everything EP
  • Trollwar - Tales From the Frozen Wastes EP
  • Gigan - Anomalous Abstractigate Infinitessimus
  • Whispering Void - At the Sound of the Heart
  • Human Harvest - Void of the Vile
  • Defeated Sanity - Chronicles of Lunacy
  • A Scar For the Wicked - Acolythus
  • Sentient Horror - In Service of the Dead
  • Earthburner - Permanent Dawn
  • Carnosus - Wormtales
  • Loudblast - Altering Fates and Destinies
  • Deivos - Apophenia