Review: Hellbastard - “The Need To Kill” (2009)
Crust Punk is a genre that I’ve passed over for the most part. Having spent my formative years overdosing on Slayer, old Metallica and the like, I nowadays rarely give anything thrash-related a second glance. But I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to check out the new album by Hellbastard, the band who actually coined the term ‘crust punk.’
I’m not sure how The Need To Kill falls on the crust punk purity meter, but it’s certainly a very intense listening experience. Hellbastard’s sound on this album often resembles Arise and Beneath The Remains era Sepultura, although the drumming is closer to the intricate battery on early Machine Head records. Most of the album is nonstop neck-snapping riffage over pummeling double bass drums and screamed vocals that sound like a slightly less angry version of Max Cavalera. It’s nothing overly innovative, but then I don’t think one listens to this type of music with the expectation that it’s going to expand one’s musical horizons or anything. This is just straight up good aggressive music.
The album would have worked as just a no holds barred assault on the senses, which is why I was a bit surprised that the band included some lighter touches here and there - the weird banjo portions in ‘Anthropological Angst I’ is probably the most obvious example. Then again, I guess I shouldn’t be too shocked that a band calling itself Hellbastard would try to lighten things up now and then.
