Review Summary: GOAT Metal
Hellripper is the one-man Scottish black/thrash force created by James McBain, and at this point the name alone pretty much guarantees a good time. Across their discography you can trace a clear evolution: the first two albums nailed down Hellripper’s core formula—high-octane “black-n-roll. Then the third album, Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags, pushed the project into more ambitious territory: longer songs, more epic and more complex compositions, and an increasing focus on Scottish folklore and mysticism.
That brings us to Coronach, Hellripper’s fourth album, and easily their most complete artistic vision to date. McBain continues blending breakneck blackened thrash laid down by the likes of Children Of Bodom and Immortal and infusing it with a Celtic Scottish flavour to create something distinctly theirs. Guitar fetishists will absolutely cream their pants with the sheer amount of excellent great riffs here. This could easily be played in the finals of the next Air Guitar World Championships.
Coronach is a celebration of everything already fans love about Hellripper: blistering high tempo thrash, virtuosic guitar work, punk rock energy, and black metal. But in additional to stellar performances on all the core aspects, we also get a range of additional instrumentation, such as the pianos on The Art of Resurrection, the ghostly violins on Boabhin Sith, the cowbell and additional percussion on Mortercheyn and the bagpipes on the closer. Who doesn’t love bagpipes. All of this serves to make Coronach Hellripper’s most fully realised vision to date and their most cinematic sounding album. Lyrically and thematically, the album continues leaning into Scottish folklore and supernatural mysticism, which gives the whole record a strong identity beneath the rock-n-roll swagger.
If you’re already familiar with Hellripper, you know you’re getting riffs out the arse. The guitar work is pretty sensational and you can hear clear lineage from the thrash gods like Megadeth, as well as the icy tremolo lines of Immortal.
The opener “Hunderprest” immediately showcases the flashy guitar playing. It features soaring black-metal fretwork, a hyperspeed section which feels like the vocals and guitars are racing against each other, and a classic ‘80s solo over galloping rhythms on the back end. That blend of aggression and fun is one of the core pillars of the album. “Kinchyle (Goatcraft and Granite)”, is one of several tracks that has a very punk rock energy. It feels like if Motorhead made a blackened thrash track. Love the gang-vocals on chorus, and the acoustic break before the final sprint is pretty cool. This is the most straight up fun track on the record for me.
Then you have Tracks like “Blakk Satanik Fvkkstorm” which go in a different direction—just pure, flashy, 80s-inspired shredding. Lots of fireworks and guitar hero moments. And McBain pulls it off in a way that he just makes it look effortless. Meanwhile, “Mortercheyn” takes a page from second-wave black metal in places, and in other feels like straight up Children Of Bodom workship. Super flashy, high-energy, really dig the tapping sections and punk style riff on the drop.
Vocally, McBain brings a stronger mix than ever: on top of the typica high pitched screams and shrieks we get some deeper gutterals and shouted lines. Along with that additional instrumentation it goes to making this the most comprehensive and theatrical Hellripper album yet. And that theatrical atmosphere shows in tracks like “Baobhan Sith”—a very slightly slower, eerier cut,. It might actually be my least favourite here as it’s the least balls out, but it does have a pretty thrilling climax, I just wish the first half was as exciting. "Sculptor’s Cave” also sits comfortably in the middle—a very solid track, with cool dual-guitar work and haunting atmosphere, though not quite a standout compared to the album’s biggest moments.
The album closes with “Coronach”, is really feels like a tour de force of everything Hellripper. Coronach is the Scottish word for funeral march, and this opens with what sounds like just that as McBain sounds like he’s in the highlands shouting into the hills. This is biggest and most epic track Hellripper has composed to date and feels like they are showing you all their wares they have to offer, with some blistering and electronic guitar moments. It really is the perfect finale.
So to sum it up: Coronach is Hellripper’s most impressive album yet. It builds on the breakneck blackened riffage and fun rock n roll swagger with more ambition, more instrumentation and more vision to end in something really awesome. It has some of the most electric guitar work you’re gonna hear in metal in 2026 for sure. With this, Hellripper cement firmly cements itself as one of the premier artists in black metal and thrash metal today.
Full video review - https://youtu.be/88g5rqjcnVI?si=wCTu6ak8z2c4y3qJ
