VOLBEAT – Beyond Hell/Above Heaven

The Danish Rockabilly Thrashers are back in town riding a big, dirty Cadillac and leaving roadkills on the dusty road through Hell and beyond. With their fourth album, Volbeat gives fans the true Volbeat experience once again with their Thrash Rockabilly formula. Producer Jacob Hansen is still behind the wheel, leading Volbeat through the haze of Whisky and burned rubber with the same precision and dynamics as their previous albums.

They also invited some drinking-buddies on a couple of tunes, including Mercyful Fate guitarist Michael Denner, Napalm Death’s Mark “Barney” Greenway and Kreator’s Mille Petrozza. Additionally, Jacob Oelund of the Copenhagen rockabilly outfit Taggy Tones and songwriter Hanrik Hall make appearances.

Beyond Hell/Above Heaven is fierce and melodic, though there is more of a Punk Rock approach on the early tracks which will appeal to a more broader mass of listeners, and may give Volbeat airtime on many mainstream radio-waves.

There are no new surprises here musically from their previous albums, but it does feel lighter and more available. Elements from Punk and Country are more prominent than the Metal genre, leaving it more of a Pop album than a Metal album.

One of the highlights is “7 Shots” featuring Mille Petrozza, which has obvious hints to “Ghostriders In The Sky”. It starts off with a banjo and goes into a lap steel guitar filling over a great Blues/Country guitar-riff and drumlines, the guitar solos and twin-guitars performed here are majestic and worthy of a band who are compared with great names in music like Metallica and Johnny Cash.

The moment you have gotten used to the lighter approach, “Evelyn” spits in your face. This is the track that has Mark “Barney” Greenway behind the mic grinding your ears into meatloaf… making you wish you where at the dentist instead. The album also has last year’s “A Warrior’s Call” on it… the song dedicated and partially sung by to the Danish boxer Mikkel Kessler. End-cut “Thanks” is a real feel-good Punk song with a heap of “woo-woo’s” where Volbeat says “Thank you people, for being around”… which almost certainly will be a live favorite amongst Volbeat’s fans.

In retrospect, Volbeat has put out 4 great albums, and this could be their best-selling because of the lighter feel of the album. It is not their greatest album, but there’s good craftsmanship from a Metal act that dares to be different while still sounding familiar to listeners of Metal since the 80s and popular-music from the 50s.

Tracklist

1. The Mirror And The Ripper
2. Heaven Nor Hell
3. Who They Are
4. Fallen
5. A Better Believer
6. 7 Shots
7. A New Day
8. 16 Dollars
9. A Warrior’s Call
10. Magic Zone
11. Evelyn
12. Being 1
13. Thanks