This Is Hell- Sundowning
Trustkill Records
May 2006
I came across this album quite by accident. There I was, in my friendly neighborhood Barnes and Nobles, looking through the CD section. I needed some new music, and couldn’t find what I was looking for, so I picked this up on the premise of liking its cover art. I put into my car stereo, and then took it right back out. All the songs sounded exactly the same. The same lightning fast chord progression, the same harsh grating singing, even the lyrics sounded the same. This CD was Sundowning by the aptly named This Is Hell.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I love hardcore punk. I’ve been a fan of bands like Gang Green and Minor Threat and The Freeze for a long time. But This Is Hell is nothing like any of those bands. Whereas Minor Threat’s lyrics had a focus, This Is Hell shouts fire and brimstone at no one in particular. Lyrics such as, “ Our debts are paid in ink and blood for all the things we’ve said along the way/ this is a statement of our will/ we’re not going down in history for standing still” don’t really inspire me at all. Whereas Gang Green actually produced clever, interesting chord structures, This Is Hell use the same boring chugging riff, with thin hardcore lead tones on top of that. The front man, Travis Reilly, has one of the most annoying voices in all of hardcore. His “scream” sounds like an abusive husband yelling at his wife to make him some dinner. It truly is horrible.
Lets talk about the rhythm section. Oh wait, there isn’t one. The drummer basically beats the living **** out of his kit, and the bass; Oh don’t get me started on the bass. As a fairly good bass player, I was offended to listen to his lame, boring lines. Sometimes he only plays one note , repeated over and over. The guitars play relatively simple power chords, with some pick slides and hand muted chugging thrown in for giggles. There are no solos, though I’m not sure if I should be sad about that. These guitarists sound like they couldn’t do a hammer-on or a pull-off to save their lives.
For all this suckage, at least it should make you want to do some floor punching, or some other hardcore dance, right? Not exactly. The Polygraph Cheaters, the best song in this big bucket of crap, is maybe the only song that inspires me to move my head, let alone do some windmilling. Procession Commence even features Glassjaw and Head Automatica front man Daryl Palumbo doing some guest vocals. Or so they say, because I can’t hear Daryl over Travis’ bleating. Broken Teeth is the best song lyrically on the album, which isn’t saying much. “ We named this vessel hope in spite of fate/ but its taking on water at an alarming rate.” Those are the best lyrics on this album. Another thing , there are “peaceful” interludes in between all the yelling. 4.8.05 and 8.27.05 are nothing more than a few guitar chords strummed over a buzzing sound for about 30 seconds. Maybe This Is Hell was trying to lengthen their album by a little bit. It is, after all, only twenty-nine minutes. It seems like it lasts for an eternity, as one song melds into another.
Unless you enjoy a lot of chugging guitars, lifeless bass, ****ty drumming, and singers who sound like wife beaters, you will not like this band. The lyrics are completely pointless. There are no standout tracks, no distinction between one song and another. I would, however, recommend this to anyone thinking of starting a hardcore band, as an example of what not to do. Honestly, the only thing these pissed-off, no-talent punks did right is name their band This Is Hell. Listening to this album really is hell.
Pros:
Daryl Palumbo appears in one song, though you can’t hear him.
So short you don’t have to bear the pain for long.
Cons:
Everything about the music is boring and generic. All this has been done before
Singer is horrible
Pretty much everything is a con.
2/5
