BLÖÖDHAG – Hell Bent For Letters

Pure Horror! Blöödhag, a quartet from Seattle, are big fans of the freakin’ genre and it shows on their new CD, Hell Bent For Letters. Every single one of the 16 tracks is named after a specific author, like Edgar Allen Poe p.e. Poe fits in nicely because he was as short-lived as the tracks are. Barely one of them is touching the three-minute mark (well, admittedly Poe got a little older than that). Punkish, Black, and Death Metal-ish influences go-hand-in hand here. Up-tempo numbers are introduced by sweet and sometimes even Power Metal-ish guitar parts, grunting and screaming rip through every “nice” emotion apart that you may have felt during those sweet sounding intros.

But, Dr. J.M. McNulty, Ambassador Brent Carpenter, Prof. J.B. Stratton, and Sir Zachery Orgel are not only Horror fans and musicians at the same time, but also Science Fiction authors themselves. They call their music Educore — a mixture between Grind Core and Education. “The faster you go deaf, the more time you have to read,” they explain.

AAAHAA! So, this CD is part of a marketing strategy for selling their written pieces. The buizz has indeed gotten weird these days… but, back to the tunes of Hell Bent For Letters…

The musical brutality of this quartet manifests in the first song, “Gene Wolfe,” right away. It seems to suggest: Start drinking, start banging, and even start killing –- NOW! (not to be taken literally). The songs start slow-paced in every case, until Ambassador Brent Carpenter is beating the living crap out of his drums and Dr. Jim McNulty shreds the guitar like there’s no tomorrow. Some pieces are punctuated by parodies of the Horror genre by quoting film scenes, etc, and that’s what the songs mainly are. In cases underlined by limited keyboard action, some of the pieces slightly resemble Pantera or Sepultura, but actually nothing compares to this CD.

In the end, this little gem might not be in line with everone’s taste, but they indeed will find a niche in the market. This is no rubbish, just excellent non-conformity at work. The atmosphere on this CD is as dense as it can be, evoking visions of the once so great Cannibal Corpse.

Alternative Tentacle Records in San Francisco entered into a good deal by signing these guys. Thumbs up!

While waiting for deserved success to come along, Blöödhag will tour through U.S.A. Public Libraries (not a joke …) and try to convince young people to read and listen to Educore. Good Luck!