THE HELLACOPTERS – Eyes Of Oblivion

Resurrection

After a somewhat chaotic career, you did not expect The Hellacopters to come back with a new album. True enough, when a band does a farewell tour, it does not always mean farewell, but still, it kind of means things don’t look peachy for the future. While they did not produce an album for quite some time (not counting the cover album Head Off in 2008, the last one was the sombre titled Rock & Roll Is Dead in 2005), the Hellacopters took the stage again in 2016 and have been since touring the world and festival just to prove that perhaps Rock N’ Roll is not dead in fact.

Is the Eyes Of Oblivion a metaphor for a hangover? Perhaps it is if you take a look at the album cover… There are only a few reasons why someone would wear sunglasses like those, and a hangover is one of them. Still, they kind of look cool with the lightning.

A cure for hangovers

As usual, The Hellacopters do not bother with frills and they deliver a mix of classic Rock N’ Roll and Hard Rock with enough energy to power up a medium-sized city. With a chorus, catchy as hell, “Reap A Hurricane” is an efficient opening for the album. Yet The Hellacopters are not content with just giving you classic fast and furious tracks, they also lean on the side of bluesy Rock N’ Roll titles, with “So Sorry I Could Die”. The piano will make you travel back in time with this one.

While the production is top-notched and modern, The Hellacopters have elevated the old-school to art, as well as melodies. It just seems they plugged their instruments in the studio and started playing. The inevitable result: light headbanging, restless feet tapping and whistling along, more or less in tune. “Tin Foil Soldier” and “Beguiled” will also have this after-effect. Even with ten songs, there is no room for repetition on the album and every one of them will get stuck in your head.

It’s classic but in the good sense. 35 minutes is too short a time spent on this album, just like at the end of the show, you’ll be shouting “we want more!”

Eyes Of Oblivion – Tracklist

01. Reap A Hurricane
02. Can it Wait
03. So Sorry I Could Die
04. Eyes Of Oblivion
05. A Plow And A Doctor
06. Positively Not Knowing
07. Tin Foil Soldier
08. Beguiled
09. The Pressure’s On
10. Try Me Tonight