Hellmouth

Hellmouth: Destroy Everything. Worship Nothing.Destroy Everything. Worship Nothing. (2009)
Ferret Records

Reviewer Rating: 4

User Rating:

Contributed by: BryneBryne
(others by this writer | submit your own)
Published on January 23rd 2009Remember "Ghostbusters II"? The river of slime that flowed underneath New York City in that movie was the ol' emotion-absorbing kind; when shown benevolence, it could make a toaster dance or The Statue of Liberty walk. But whenever bad vibes were present, the slime would do horrible, horrible things.

Remember "Ghostbusters II"? The river of slime that flowed underneath New York City in that movie was the ol' emotion-absorbing kind; when shown benevolence, it could make a toaster dance or The Statue of Liberty walk. But whenever bad vibes were present, the slime would do horrible, horrible things, like causing a mink coat to fucking come to life or conjuring up the lost souls of the Titanic. Well, in 2009, the setting is the decrepit barracks of Detroit, Hellmouth is the slime and their blistering debut. Destroy Everything. Worship Nothing., is the product of extreme malevolence.

For the record, I'm not calling the dudes in Hellmouth slime -- just comparing them to fictional movie slime. Which is way better, trust me.

Hellmouth is a band that claims to blur the lines between metal, hardcore and punk. Yeah, we've all heard that one before, haven't we? Usually bands that describe themselves as such are truthfully mediocre metalcore bands, with songs high on guitar squeals, double bass and breakdowns and low on substance and reality. Punk fuckin' rock, man. Oddly enough, though, the metal, hardcore and punk line-blurring description fits here. There's a near-perfect balance of elements lifted from each respective genre, creating a sound that's extremely aggressive and surprisingly original.

For those not in the know, Jason Navarro is the vocalist for Hellmouth. Yeah, that same dude from the Suicide Machines who wrote a jangly pop-rock song about his dog many years ago is now waxing misanthropic with the best of them. Lyrics aren't even necessary, really; merely looking at the song titles is all one must do to get an idea of where Navarro and the rest of Hellmouth have been and where they're going. It ain't pretty, to say the least.

The opening 1-2 punch of "Pick a Coffin" and "Overtime in a Shark Cage" start things off menacingly enough, the former beginning with a death metal-esque barrage of drums and the latter being built around a heavy groove, each featuring monstrous riffs and plenty of speed. "Shark Cage" and "Pawnshop St. Christopher" both have foundations in hardcore, with fast drumming and guitar work being the order of the day. Same for "Praying For Plague" and "God's Forgotten Children," the latter anchored by a vocal performance from Navarro that sounds like it was recorded in the seventh level of Hell.

Heaviness is brought to uranium-like levels on "Blackest of Voids," a mid-tempo song with riffs and chord progressions that would've made the late Dimebag Darrell proud. The speed picks up on "Dust," where a combination of thunderous drumming and more open chords are utilized to bring the heavy, while "Crooked Teeth" has a sound more rooted in thrash, right down to the cymbal crashes and rapid riffs.

Hellmouth branch out somewhat on closing track "The Masters Have Poisoned the Slaves," a slow, sludgy track that's by far the heaviest song on Destroy Everything. Worship Nothing. There's even an organ playing underneath the verses! How metal is that? It's not a bad song per se, but after the lightning-in-a-bottle urgency that the band captured in the previous 13 tracks, this song feels twice as long as it actually is (and it's already nearly seven minutes long). But even that's grasping for straws; there's just not a whole lot about this record to dislike. To put it simply, it fucking shreds.

Login to rate this album

People who liked this also liked:

Please login or register to post comments.What are the benefits of having a Punknews.org account?

Share your opinion by posting comments on the stories that interest you
Rate music and bands and help shape the weekly top ten
Let Punknews.org use your ratings to help you find bands and albums you might like
Customize features on the site to get the news the way you want.

Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

devianter (November 15, 2010)

blanktapesemptybottles
"every chanCe i get"
why ?:)

devianter (November 15, 2010)

love it. finally something new.

skalastics (June 4, 2010)

dude fuck yea hell mouth

deathritus (December 9, 2009)

Good album but let's pray for a Suicide Machines comeback in 2010 !!!

GlassPipeMurder (January 27, 2009)

Ferret has always maintained some good bands. Dead Hearts, Poison the Well, Zao, this...and don't forget, they put out the first Bronx LP!

sirens (January 27, 2009)

Ferret means bad but this sounds so promising.

blanktapesemptybottles (January 26, 2009)

that sucks ferret needs to get some distribution, damn half assed label

under_your_influence (January 26, 2009)

FYI....the CD is available only at a few stores around Detroit 'cause the band took them there. If you're outside Detroit, the only way to get the actual CD is through Ferret mailorder. It can be downloaded through Itunes, Amazon and ShockHound.

telegraphrocks (January 26, 2009)

hey telegraph, how was that show at the good old smokin' token? looked like a pretty tough line up, i kind of figured there would just be fight after fight.

by the way i'm pretty sure sanguis is bartending at the token on tuesday nights

The show was actually awesome all-around. Four (maybe five) bands played before Hellmouth, and all of them managed to have their own distinct sound from the others, and all were pretty entertaining. After Hellmouth, we only watched one more band (who was also good), then had to drive back to Chicago through endless snow. Roundtrip was 17 fucking hours... WORTH IT!

As for the fighting, I saw none. I DID feel like I was gonna get punched or stabbed from the second I walked into the place, but the brutality never occurred.

And Sanguis actually books shows there, I chatted with him for just a few minutes, of course praising an underrated and missed Telegraph / Skolars. Coincidentally, he does the backing vocals on Hellmouth's demo.

Score's for Hellmouth, Telegraph, and not being the one that got laid off from my job today.

skolarx (January 26, 2009)

3pidemiC (January 25, 2009)

I played at the Token Lounge...Many times....

I Miss SM. But at least he's doing something...

xshoutoutx (January 25, 2009)

digging this!

bryne (January 25, 2009)

newbury didn't have this : (

As far as I know, the only stores carrying it are a few indie shops around the Detroit area. Otherwise, you'll have to order it from Ferret if you want a physical copy. I'm pretty sure all the digital retailers have it.

blanktapesemptybottles (January 25, 2009)

newbury didn't have this : (

blip (January 25, 2009)

this band is fucking sick. i hope they sell a lot of records so that Ferret will keep signing some decent bands instead of faux hardcore.

telegraphrocks (January 25, 2009)

Yeah, Westland, but isn't that just a suburb of Detroit? I figured I'd just put "Detroit"... meh.

3pidemiC (January 25, 2009)

Those video that you posted from them in Detroit I believe are actually in Wesland, MI. They're playing a The Token Lounge, which definitely is not in Detroit.

evildeadalive (January 25, 2009)

Are they related to the poker brat, Phil Hellmouth?

GlassPipeMurder (January 25, 2009)

listening on MySpace. diggin' it.

telegraphrocks (January 24, 2009)

mikexdude (January 24, 2009)

Pretty cool. Ferret bands usually suck.

blanktapesemptybottles (January 24, 2009)

system*

blanktapesemptybottles (January 24, 2009)

did anyone notice he sings "Your system fucked us, so I fucked your system ever change I get" in 'Drop Out and Destroy'

bryne (January 24, 2009)

no one mentioned this is the new band by the guy from suicide machines ?

I did. Fourth paragraph.

XCARLUPANDDIEX (January 24, 2009)

no one mentioned this is the new band by the guy from suicide machines ?

RondoMondo (January 24, 2009)

This was a pretty damn good first release. I can only see these guys getting better as time goes on.

NewKid (January 24, 2009)

Didn't know this was even out. Definately gonna check it out.

Eric

darbystrummer77 (January 24, 2009)

score is for the demo and t-shirt i got a while ago for 8 bucks. didnt even know this full length was out. downloading it right now. this made my day.

hubitcherkokov (January 24, 2009)

What's so bad with the name Hellmouth? It seems to be pretty indicative of the music, and it's not like it's some bullshit like Scary Kids Scaring Kids, Fear Before The March of Flames, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, etc, Tapes'n'Tapes, etc.

fallingupwards84 (January 24, 2009)

BlackRonin - the point is that these guys sat around in some room, debated a few band names, someone suggested "Hellmouth", and they actually agreed that "Hellmouth" would be a cool name for a band

sugarfull (January 24, 2009)

didn't like the vocals.

BlackRonin (January 24, 2009)

Who decides to call them selves Matt Ramone? #2 year old jaded shit talking douchebags?!?! I think the name Hellmouth is meant to be a little tongue in cheek.A bit of Homage de Fromage' to their 80's metal influences. Im pretty sure theyve seen Buffy the Vampire Slayer

oskorei (January 24, 2009)

score is for the Dimebag comparison

TheLando (January 23, 2009)

best record i have picked up in a while. also a super intense live show. saw them perform to like 20 people in Urbana Illinois. Angry angry men on stage and super nice dudes off the stage willing to talk about anything.

Can't wait to see what they produce in the future.

fallingupwards84 (January 23, 2009)

cheesiest band name ever

epoch (January 23, 2009)

Jay always put on a great live show. Definitely checking this out.

mattramone (January 23, 2009)

Who decides to call their band Hellmouth? 12 year olds?

skolarx (January 23, 2009)

oh and by the way, royce wrote sometimes i don't mind, not jay

skolarx (January 23, 2009)

at the cd release show my roommate got mad at jay for wasting all those years in the suicide machines and not doing this band sooner. while i don't quite agree with that, i do think this is the best thing he has done since dbd. go see these guys live if you get a chance, the live show blows away the cd, which is incredible in its own right