Granite Factory Records - 2016
8/10
With Hellripper’s new album hitting the scene, I thought it fitting to go back and revisit their earliest work, some that I’m the least familiar with. Complete And Total Fucking Mayhem is a compilation of the band’s first EP and material from the several splits that would surface before the debut. At the time, the Scottish one-man outfit hardly stood out from the black/speed sound that everyone grew to love, but still clearly made an impression. In hindsight, however, it becomes easy to see the roots that would grow into the masterful work.
Something that always let Hellripper stand apart from the pack since its inception was the levels of clarity. Part of this is obviously due to the rock ‘n roll presence all over the place. Considering the rawness of these earlier songs, the cleaner leads stand brighter than they do nowadays, making somewhat melodic passages feel very organic. Yet, you can still get whiffs of the devious sounding direction, bringing the blackened element higher up. “Black Mass Sacrifice” lets this on very heavily, yet even then, you’re not gonna miss what would become the signature writing style of James McBain. Even the bass pokes its harsh head more here, and “Hell’s Rock ‘N Roll” is a fitting tune with riffwork that may nod to Kill ‘Em All. Variety isn’t exactly the selling point, but what exists if loads of fun. “Full Moon Witchery” is just loaded with vocal and instrumental energy, which should paint the overall picture wonderfully.
I guess the point is that the earliest works are some of the easiest to peel away the blackened layers and find what’s underneath thanks to such a thin blanket of rough production. A key feature is how brief all of the songs are. For a 12-song compilation that isn’t in the grind/crust realm, this is pretty short, and very few of the songs even touch the three minute mark. Does this really matter? Nah, but it does show the primitiveness, and where things would evolve from on the first full-length. Really, Complete And Total Fucking Mayhem is something I see as the skeleton of what’s to come. Even in their latest work, things haven’t moved away from the bare-bones (pun intended) foundation you can see here, but the evolution shows wonderfully. Thus, this makes for an extremely fun albeit predictable spin that works as a neat flashback from time to time.
Listen -> Bandcamp
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