Consistency is both the lover and killer of bands and the genres they play. Writing the same album over and over again is okay but there's no doubt that things can easily get samey quickly. Genre purists might refute this, as consistency is sometimes key to a long standing career. Sometimes not. And when you're dealing with one of a genre's godfathers, how much flak is one really going to give them for trying sometime new or staying the same? Newcastle, England's Hellbastard walk a line like this with their latest offering Feral.
Hellbastard are a band that need little introduction concerning their importance within the genres they play. Though more notable for the coining of the genre crust from their Rippercrust demo (which I did an article on a few years ago), the band has, along with Ambiex, influenced countless other players in the genre. However, Hellbastard has strode more as a crossover unit between crust punk and thrash since their second LP Natural Order. Their latest offering Feral keeps with their thrashy without falling off the edge and resorting to the same old, same old act.
All at once Feral is familiar and not. Feral as the album will come off later, there's a weening involved. The piano introduction acts as a way to throw off listeners and for Hellbastard to grab the unsuspecting by the throat. “In Praise of Bast – Feral” beings the album with a bang and chugs forward wanting to get straight down to business. Right after that pretty piano piece. This is where the two-fold of the band comes in. Just these few minutes provide exposition for the rest of the album: Hellbastard doing what they're good at and trying new things.
Feral stacks on a more epic feeling than the band has previously captured. There's plenty of bang in just about every song. “Shame On Us” provides with some great headbanging moments and great guitar work. “And the Point of Your Being Is…?” chugs and builds some killer 80s punk vibes and a breakdown that might start a circle pit. For a few seconds (it's pretty short).
However, it also gets moody. Feral isn't an album concerned with being some rabid frothing-at-the-mouth stripped down serial speed freak. Hellbastard favor method over madness. Their riffs are still funky and their thrash is still good, but Feral keeps things darker. Tracks like “Wychcraft” have darker sections that sound like they were written under a blood moon. “We Are the Coven” broods in a boiling culdron, steaming and favoring a quiet melody with an organ set in the background. And as it goes quiet, the song only soaks itself more in darkness before the electric guitars kick in. The whole thing builds in to an epically and shines as one of the record's strongest pieces.
Fans of Hellbastard and their crossover stuff will wanna dig into this album. They seep their sound in a darker tone than previous albums while additionally sticking to their guns. Feral is plenty crust punk and plenty thrash. Though the thrash pieces aren't played as fast as a lot of other bands in the genre, these guys are still tight. Feral will please old fans and new alike as a raw, calculated attack.
As always, you can find me here.
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