Review Summary: A black metal masterpiece that transcends words
The heaviest black metal band this side of Burzum,
Hampton the Hampster is by far the most brutal band on the scene today. But don't be fooled, there's more substance in
Hampsterdance The Album than insane brutal heaviness that makes Dethklok blush: the guitar makes trying to carry a weight look like a piece of cake, but the bass is a masterpiece of technical achievement, and the drumlines are so progressive it makes even the proggiest of prog-rockers jealous.
While opening track "The Hampsterdance Song" is an in-your-face black metal classic, its not until "Thank God I'm A Country Boy" kicks in that Hampton H. McHampster and crew really kick into gear, mixing their normal black metal goodness with a touch of sludgy-doom and a nice helping of Johnny Cash-esque country. "A Hampster's Life" provides a strange crossing with black metal musicianship with lyrics about life on the road, but the band mix the two together so well that the minimal flaws become progressively harder to notice. "Dreaming" gives us a strange helping of
dream pop crossed with black metal, and "Even Hampsters Get The Blues" provides us with the only clean singing on the album as an emo-pop masterpiece that really hits home the fact that since we have these jacks-of-all-stats that can live forever by virtue of being cartoon characters, My Chemical Romance died for literally f**king nothing.
The production is so good that not even the most well-produced pop (or even rock/metal) acts could dream of the masterpiece mixing and mastering that blesses
Hampsterdance The Album; if you think Flemming Rasmussen, Fredrik Nordström or Terry Date can even come close to this, think again; it mixes the best aspects of Rasmussen, Nordström and Date's productions and amps them up to 11,000 in a way that not even producers famous for overexaggerating elements could even dream of. Every instrument sounds beautiful, every instrument sounds clear, you can actually hear the bass for once, adding even better flavor to "Even Hampsters Get The Blues" in particular as there is a well-known and very disturbing lack of bass on emo-pop albums. In closing,
Hampsterdance The Album is truly a masterpiece for the ages and it should be required to hear what should be christened by every government in existance as required listening, as no one will ever top Hampton and company's masterpiece. Listen and be blessed.
