Hellripper: Black Thrash Magic!

Start with brutal blood-drenched black metal riffs and razor-sharp thrashing speed weaved with insidious tales of witchcraft and the occult, and you would only just be dipping your toes into the water that is HELLRIPPER. Based in the Scottish Highlands and formed in 2014 by James McBain, the one-man-band have been rising in the scene in recent years, putting their own twist on the black and thrash metal genres with their own style of speed-soaked darkness.

Listening to the complexity and depth of HELLRIPPER, it’s hard to believe that this is the result of one man. “I wasn’t really involved in the local scene at the time, and so I didn’t know a lot of people that were into this type of music. I knew that if I kept waiting to find the right people, then I would never get things done, so I decided to do it all on my own,” McBain comments. “It was quite difficult at first as I had to figure out how to record and mix things properly in order to get something listenable, but now I absolutely love the whole process. Doing things on my own allows me to work at my own pace with no real deadlines and musically I can write whatever I want without compromising.”

As anyone who has tried to create their own music knows, there is more to it that simply coming up with a good riff. For HELLRIPPER, songwriting itself took a while to master, but the biggest learning curve lay elsewhere. “In regards to writing, it took me quite a while to come up with songs that I was happy with. By the time I started HELLRIPPER, I had been writing songs for a few years but most of them were just no good. I even wrote and recorded a few songs in 2012 or 2013 that were intended to make up the first release, but I wasn’t happy with the end results. It took me a little while to figure out (and I’m still learning of course) why some songs are so effective and how to structure them etc.”

The challenge, McBain comments, lay in recording and mixing the sound. “Recording and mixing is very difficult in my opinion. When I first started HELLRIPPER, I had no idea what I was doing really, and things were just trial and error. It’s a frustrating but rewarding process when you have a sound in your head and you need to figure out how to make it happen. It took me years of trying different things like double/triple tracking some guitar parts or layering vocals in certain ways to get where I wanted to be sound-wise with HELLRIPPER. Just like with most things, the more you do something, the more tricks you pick up and the easier it is for you to achieve the desired outcome.”

The lyrical themes of HELLRIPPER are sinister and complex, often spinning tales of history and legend, and although McBain says that he does have a natural interest in this, he does need to ramp up the research when it comes to writing lyrics. “Occultism and witchcraft fascinate me, as it’s interesting to look at how people’s beliefs and fears have changed over time, and how these things shaped their societies.” The Scottish Highlands are a place shrouded in folklore, though McBain says it’s more the set up than the setting that allow him to create. “I do love being in a more peaceful environment, but I don’t think it has a direct impact on my creativity, or maybe it impacts me on a subconscious level. The main thing that has helped me since moving to the Highlands is that I now have a more organised space to record and store merch etc. Everything is set up how I like it, and if I feel inspired or want to record something, I can do so in a couple of minutes with no hassle.”

Having recently announced their signing to Peaceville Records, HELLRIPPER have revealed details and the cover artwork of their upcoming new studio album The Affair Of The Poisons. “I’m very happy with the title track and The Hanging Tree which open and close the album respectively. I’m proud of all the tracks and love how the album turned out, but those two offer something a bit different to what I usually do, but while also sounding like HELLRIPPER songs.”

The music industry and the entire world has been completely shaken up at the moment, but the band still have a strong vision for the future. “I’d love to play almost anywhere that we haven’t gotten to yet! I would love to get to Scandinavia for a couple of shows, and of course the US. I get messages every day from people asking us to come to the US, and I’m looking forward to when we can finally make that a reality!” Already looking to 2021 and beyond, McBain comments, “hopefully we can get out there and play some shows in 2021, but of course there’s so much to think about right now and it’s difficult to plan things in that respect without knowing fully what the situation will be like. I am, however, about halfway through writing another HELLRIPPER album so there shouldn’t be that long of a wait for that at least!”

The Affair Of The Poisons is out now via Peaceville Records.

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