ALBUM REVIEW: Eyes Of Oblivion – The Hellacopters
When you think of bands that took 14 years to release a new album, there is probably one glaringly obvious example that pops straight into your mind. Hoping to not echo the complete garbage fire that was Chinese Democracy are garage rock superstars THE HELLACOPTERS. Given the aforementioned timeframe between 2008’s Head Off and new effort Eyes Of Oblivion, tensions are understandably high for this long-awaited new album, but what if the time away has taken its toll, could they be about to crash and burn?
As openers go, Reap A Hurricane lets us know not to expect any messing around. It’s a triumphant heralding of the return of one of Sweden’s best rock ‘n’ roll bands. The best way this three and a half minutes of dirty riffs, vicious grooves and mean swagger can be described is that if legendary pirate Blackbeard was around today, this would likely be his all-time favourite party banger. It throbs with a swashbuckling groove and sets the tone perfectly for the album’s remainder.
What has clearly not subsided in their hiatus is the ridiculous ability of THE HELLACOPTERS to write thoroughly infectious hooks. Can It Wait is no exception, its vocal refrain will be rattling around inside your head for weeks. What makes this even worse is it is less than two minutes long and so requires multiple listens in order to scratch the itch. Never let it be said that these boys don’t know exactly what they are doing. Between tracks you can almost hear them cracking their collective knuckles before sitting down and knocking out So Sorry I Could Die. It’s one of those proper old-school broken-hearted hard-blues half-ballads that just smacks of subtle musicianship and unassailable charisma.
Welcome to lick city, population you. Title track Eyes Of Oblivion is a riff-heavy, top-down ride through anonymous stretches of midnight streets, presumably towards nefarious ends. Here we find one of the many things that is so hugely likeable about THE HELLACOPTERS. With only three chords, a chorus and a corker of a solo at the end, they’ve made something can basically be described as KISS on HGH with all the hooks and none of the ego. Tremendous. A Plow And A Doctor is slightly more restrained than its immediate predecessor, largely being a pulsing feel-good riff twinned with rhythmic piano, all lashed to an astronomic vocal line.
Positively Not Knowing jams harder than most bands of this ilk could ever even dream of. It’s a meteoric bruiser that is a strong contender for standout track of the album. Not since the early doors of a little band called MOTÖRHEAD has a band been so drenched in leather-wrapped cool. If, for whatever reason, you find that hard to believe, just listen to it. By the time that final solo screeches to a halt, you’ll have come round. Next up we find the Tin Foil Soldier. This is a modern day homage to all things 70s glam and somewhere, without quite knowing why, Noddy Holder has just had a little tear escape from his eye.
Turning to the beginning of the end, we firstly find the thunderous charge of Beguiled, which is no slouch in terms of catchiness and firmly clears the palette for The Pressure’s On, which is actually a fairly pretty composition, still offering up shrieking licks and massive melody, but doing so in such a fashion that betrays the wealth of emotional maturity lurking just beneath the surface. It’s by no means a ballad, but an acoustic version of it would likely break your heart. Closer Try Me Tonight is the only real choice to round out the album. It’s an electrifying and bombastic groove that manages to revisit and embody all the best moments of the past 35 minutes without feeling like a complete rehash, and a track that’s sure to leave the listener buzzing.
Overall, Eyes Of Oblivion is hardly reinventing the wheel. That is far, far from a bad thing though. What THE HELLACOPTERS are instead doing is taking their formidable musicianship and song-writing skill, taking a long hard look at everything they love about rock and roll, then turning around and proceeding to smash the ever-loving life out of it. It is both enormously refreshing and remarkably comforting to think that bands like them not only still exist, but are firmly keeping the faith and knocking out tremendous material. Welcome to your Friday night soundtrack for the foreseeable future.
Rating: 9/10
Eyes Of Oblivion is out now via Nuclear Blast Records.
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