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CRITIC REVIEWS
100
Where musical diversions were once derided as pretentious, especially by players as virtuosic as these, the modern fight for attention as genres pile up in your cerebral cortex means that Hellfire is very much an album that reflects the here and now.
11mo
90
black midi are a truly generational band – and their distilled talent allows them to be fresh and invigorating with every release.
11mo
90
The new LP sounds like a
contribution of the jazzy, proggy sound explored on Cavalcade, rather than a totally fresh
slate.
contribution of the jazzy, proggy sound explored on Cavalcade, rather than a totally fresh
slate.
10mo
90
Though many of the band's distinct hallmarks show face – heavier than ever, even – somehow their latest record sounds miraculously and hideously new, proving their aversion to any mindless repetition.
11mo
90
It’s an album rife with indications that Black Midi have even further developed their impeccable skill for terminally wry, enrapturing lyricism.
11mo
90
The London trio creates and solves their own puzzle by weaving intriguing and imaginative narratives.
10mo
90
It takes immense skill to know what to keep while being one step ahead of the modern musical landscape, and Hellfire accomplishes both.
11mo
87
A melting pot that declares the end of genre, the end of civility, unmasking the stories we’ve been told as lies, orating the races we follow like the blind.
11mo
86
The London band’s third album is a grotesque carnival of human misery that you’ll never want to turn away from.
11mo
85
The mini-compositions that animate Hellfire bring a different energy than the free-jam freakouts of black midi’s past work, but they’re no less enthralling; it’s still hard to predict where any given track from the new suite will go.
11mo
80
Appreciation of the album comes down to how much you’re willing to go with all this. Like Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea’s Illuminatus! Trilogy, ‘Hellfire’ is at once goofy and high brow. A volcanic eruption of serious silliness.
10mo
80
Third album from London trio adds another gem to the crown of a band who are fast becoming one of the very best of their era.
10mo
80
The Londoners freely cram genres and ideas into their concept album about death.
10mo
80
Hellfire is absurd, self-indulgent, restless, ambitious and brutal. But it never feels forced.
11mo
80
They've managed to make tonal inconsistencies feel like an actual consistency, rather than being a jarring and detracting experience. They've wrangled chaos into submission, and currently sound like no other band out there.
11mo
80
Third album by the experimental London trio has a nefarious undercurrent.
11mo
80
With their third LP Hellfire, Black Midi continue to put out adventurous and challenging music that keeps listeners on the tips of their toes.
9mo
80
Call it avant-garde if you will (and it’s a certainty that some will find the album’s frequent gear-shifts too much to bear), but listening to ‘Hellfire’ delivers more musical thrills and about-turns per minute than few other records we’ve heard this year.
11mo
80
Although less esoteric than its predecessor ‘Cavalcade’, ‘Hellfire’ is a fiercely experimental record that sees black midi teeter back and forth on a crumbling precipice, halfway between unhinged madness and art rock precision.
11mo
80
The album rewards digging beneath its surface and influences, as it engages with rock’s history while simultaneously taking it in imaginative new directions.
11mo
80
Hellfire is less instant than Cavalcade, and perhaps less tight than Schlagenheim, but sit with it for a little while and allow its story to unfold before you: if one thing can be promised, it’s that you will have plenty of fun.
11mo
80
UK three-piece tread the fine line between unlistenable racket and work of genius.
11mo
80
There's something about the shape and dynamic of Hellfire that makes you want to play it again, straight away.
11mo
78
The preposterously talented English band’s third record is pitched between clinical precision and crazed abandon.
11mo
70
Lead vocalist Geordie Greep sounds more like a delirious carnival barker than before, and the music brings to mind Mr. Bungle and Fred Frith more so than the King Crimson-isms of Black Midi's past work.
10mo
66
No longer is Black Midi strictly synonymous with lab-grown semblances of chaos; Hellfire steps right into its titular brimstone, affording the band’s postmodern fables newfound stakes and dynamism.
11mo
60
While still manic in its tempo-changing lunacy, Hellfire is more approachable and organised, as the production by sometime Björk engineer Marta Salogni asserts a certain order amid the vari-speed chaos.
11mo
60
From cocktail-lounge piano to thrashing drums, the British prog band make musical handbrake turns that are thrilling but hard to love.
11mo
50
Black Midi take a serious detour into pretentious overreach here.
11mo
Hellfire is black midi's most consistent project. The theme is clever and original. The songs pop, and feel like a refreshing take on an older style of music. It integrates much of what they have been doing on previous projects into a very ambitious full package. not overhyped. very fun. take a listen.
Edit (91 -> 96) PFFFSSSHHH this shit clicked heavy. This is the fastest paced rollercoaster of an album I might have ever heard. Every sound is perfect. This shit is incredible. Second half ... read more
Yeah, I came.
The temptation to recap the already strong legacy of Black Midi at this point is palpable, since within the three albums the band has released, Black Midi have grown to be one of the strongest Experimental Rock bands out of the UK, which is a fucking FEAT considering what’s come out (check my last review for that, I'm a whore!). It’s tempting to say how the more technically impressive and almost Classic Prog tinged ‘Cavalcade’ launched the band into new ... read more
Finally hell is not so bad
https://spectrumculture.com/2022/07/17/black-midi-hellfire-review/
While black midi has only been around for five years, that’s all the time they’ve needed to become one of the most compelling noise rock bands of the moment. The London-based band has already released three superlative albums, none of which are alike. It’s strange to think that their 2019 debut, Schlagenheim, already feels like an old memory when the tour accompanying the album ... read more
Black midi created an album that is theatrical, technical, humorous and dystopian in the best ways. I love how the characters feel like they are in the same hellish world, and of course the genre-pushing instrumentals are the perfect backdrop to this. The outro of Still and the Race drag just a bit though.
Fav tracks: Sugar/Tzu, Eat men eat, Welcome to hell, The defence
Least Fav: Still
It’s faultless. I’ve listened to this album countless times since it dropped and feel confident slapping a 100 on it.
It’s hard to succinctly describe this album. It’s the kind of album 3 hour long video essays are made for. There’s a lot to unpack.
All I’ll say is, I love the world it builds - the characters, the tales, the humour. The theme running throughout the album is handled incredibly well and it never gets tiring (38 minutes is a great ... read more
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Track List
| 1 | Hellfire 1:24 | 88 |
| 2 | Sugar/Tzu 3:50 | 95 |
| 3 | Eat Men Eat 3:08 | 93 |
| 4 | Welcome To Hell 4:09 | 95 |
| 5 | Still 5:46 | 90 |
| 6 | Half Time 0:26 | 76 |
| 7 | The Race Is About To Begin 7:15 | 91 |
| 8 | Dangerous Liaisons 4:14 | 89 |
| 9 | The Defence 2:59 | 91 |
| 10 | 27 Questions 5:43 | 91 |
Total Length: 38 minutes
Year End Lists
| #5 | / | The Needle Drop |
| #7 | / | The New York Times: Jon Pareles |
| #8 | / | Rough Trade (UK) |
| #17 | / | Beats Per Minute |
| #21 | / | Record Collector |
| #21 | / | Uncut |
| #22 | / | Gaffa (Sweden) |
| #24 | / | Treble |
| #25 | / | PopMatters |
| #27 | / | Loud and Quiet |
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By landlalt
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2h
Oh yeah if anyone wants a queer artist to listen to for pride month I suggest you check out Kitchens of Distinction
Added on: May 8, 2022