A sister record of Cavalcade, Hellfire self-explains all of its daring. An album that claws through with Black Midi's intense set of tracks that is difficult to get through, where the writing piles up the caustic bile from track to track. That quality in itself makes for a great experience, just not always.
There’s no stopping Black Midi at this very point, where their compelling writing, flailing experimental compositions, and visceral display of emotions have been their hallmark that won a lot of people, where now they have Black Country, New Road and Squid that test and breaks Post-Punk and Experimental Rock genres at its most complex and shrewd. They have been consistent with what they have to show thus far, where to follow up Cavalcade will be met with bigger expectations across the board especially when the aforementioned bands are doing their own unique manners and clamoring escapades in Post-Punk, Experimental Rock, and a lot more. And that questions of consistency is now answered, all burning with fire, as Hellfire steps forth upon the crowd.
If Cavalcade is a drama with its simmering rhythms and dimmer scopes of power and degradation, Hellfire is the consequential follow-up action thriller that levers up the scorch and the tangled. Contrasts and moves forward what Cavalcade has set, Hellfire ramps up all the chaotic jazz-fused compositions with a bloodied sense of volume and frenzy in all aspects of production, writing, and vocalization. An album that gets close to the flames and gets consumed and laughs amidst its swaying heat, only showing just how brutish and manic the stories in the record can be.
The usual eclectic patches in Black Midi’s are now met with intense firepower. ‘Sugar/Tzu’ pummels through with an intense flair of brass arpeggios and inhumane drums rhythms that gets more caustic at the very end, where the lyrics describe a boxing match that ends violently as a hidden assailant whip through the crowd and shoots one of the boxers on his head. ‘Eat Men Eat’ has all these simmering drum rhythms and cascading guitars and brass instruments flowing through, with Cameron Picton's somber singing and feral shouts encapsulating the story of two queer men caught under the elusive poisonous feast are in the situation of escaping that hell as the homophobic captain’s anger lingers in every day of their lives. ‘Welcome To Hell’ tells the story of a father convincing Tristan Bongo of cycles that he needs to embrace in the militarist life as the lyrics imply Tristan Bongo’s PTSD from those experiences of war, with the drums, guitars, pianos, and horns just keeps blasting through with their immense volume.
On the flip side, that heat still hurts in its classically subdued moments. ‘Still’ brings Cameron Picton’s somber vocals for a song that’s about the reflections of a post-break-up situation that puts forth the most lightest but still shambling acoustics and strings arrangements. ‘The Defence’ has its baroque theatrics from the vocals and instrumentation that shadow the underlying sins of the religious individual aiding the women in a brothel that he himself maintains. ‘Dangerous Liasions’ is in a similar category, telling the story of a farmhand who agrees to kill a mafioso and ends up murdering an innocent stranger, only to reveal Satan’s skin underneath as the perusing instrumentation and swaggering vocals adds to the devilish tone.
And then there are the two tracks that embellish both aesthetics in a balance of cacophony and calm. ‘The Race Is About To Begin’ is quite the stunner. Its entire seven minutes details Tristan Bongo’s downward spiral of losing his entire sense of self that comes from gambling on horse racing, all brimming with the most insane vocal melodies that Black Midi has ever created accompanied with fizzing rhythms, spontaneous dissonance, and acoustic line attaches a ‘holier than thou’ justification from Tristan Bongo that ends the track. And then there’s ‘27 Questions’, the closer that culminates the record as the breakdowns from the unnerving piano, guitars, and drums flip around for a classically enthralled arrangement that only breaks away as that unnerving instrumentation ends the entire record. Mirroring a final hurrah from Freddie Frost with all of his questions sung before setting himself down to damnation… Damnation that includes the audience in the play as they laugh at the old man and leave him in his dying moments.
As much as there is a lot to glaze over here, it took a lot of time and listens to finally wrestle with this record given just how the subdued moments in the record were off-putting from the start. Given that the record embraces the hellish bile on every turn, it makes the record a bit difficult to relisten to outside of certain moments even despite the absolutely terrific compositional swerves and gripping display in its storytelling. And going back to those subdued moments, there were still tracks in that department that lends its classical compositions to linger a little too long or can jeopardize the structure of the record. ‘The Race Is About To Begin’ has this issue, where that acoustic churn at the end could have been tightened for its own sake. ‘Dangerous Liasions’ while gets a lot more heavier, the structure jumbles around to the point that it can be a little messy to get back to. And then there is ‘Still’, the lightest song in the record that felt jarring at first listen and is still jarring now, not only because it acts as a sudden switch from the previous track that felt rather unflattering, but the rather optimistic tone in the lyrics just don’t mesh well with the record as every track emphasizes the nihilistic tone that this song does not have. And given that this is the only one that has this lightest note on the record just makes the song feel unnecessary in the narrative sense and the structural sense of the record.
Still, Black Midi are 3 for 3 when it comes to pulling off the greatness in their catalog. And as much as the driving hellish forces in its compositions and storytelling are impressive as always, it’s the kind of record that is quite difficult to get back to. Not helped by certain composition choices that make the experience slip from time to time. While Cavalcade will be the record that’s easy and accessible to get back to, there will be times when Hellfire will be on the streaming queue only because there’s just something enticing about its feverish soundscapes. The record will make you question if you want to delve in, and when you do, ensure that you're prepared for the hellscape that awaits.
Favorite Tracks: Eat Men Eat, Sugar/Tzu, Welcome To Hell, The Defence, 27 Questions, The Race Is About To Begin
Least Favorite Track: Still