Hellfire
by black midi
- Type: Album
- Released: 15 July 2022
- Label: Rough Trade
- Country: United Kingdom
- Length: 38:54
- Community rating: 4.13/5 from 44 ratings
Artists on this release: Cameron Picton, Morgan Simpson, Geordie Greep
Album Notes & Community Reviews
On 'Hellfire', black midi expands its sound into a theatrical and frantic blend of avant-prog, jazz fusion, and cabaret, abandoning the post-punk of their debut for more intricate and cinematic arrangements. The album is structured around a series of first-person narratives from morally questionable protagonists, delivering hellish and action-packed lyrical vignettes with a verbose, often rambling vocal style. The band's technical virtuosity is displayed through dense instrumentation and chaotic compositions that shift abruptly in tempo and mood, weaving together elements of flamenco, country, and show tunes into their furiously complex rock foundation.
Genres
Descriptors: progressive, technical, avant-garde, narrative, theatrical, experimental, abrasive, polyrhythmic
Tracklist
- Hellfire (01:24)
- Sugar/Tzu (03:50)
- Eat Men Eat (03:08)
- Welcome to Hell (04:09)
- Still (05:46)
- Half Time (00:26)
- The Race Is About To Begin (07:15)
- Dangerous Liaisons (04:14)
- The Defence (02:59)
- 27 Questions (05:43)
Credits
- Geordie Greep - lead vocals, accordion, resonator guitar, bechstein grand piano, mandolin, k. yairi classical guitar, gibson sg electric guitar, fender stratocaster electric guitar, surfboard lap steel guitar, orchestral whip clap sticks, triangle, wind whistle, police whistle, train whistle, strings arrangement, arturia mircobrute synthesizer, roland jupiter 8 synthesizer, guitars, keyboards, bass
- Cameron Picton - lead vocals, rickenbacker 4003 bass guitar, hofner senator electro-acoustic guitar, triangle, sampler, sound design, flute, drone, hohner c harmonica, marxophone, miscellaneous synthesizers, xylophone, arturia pigments, arturia synthi, crowd noise, espa帽a cs-40 classical flamenco guitar, vocals, samples, radio bed, hofner senator bass, guitars, keyboards
- Morgan Simpson - snare, kick drum, china cymbal, tom tom, cabasa, crash cymbal x2, triangle, doumbek, ludwig vistalite kit, percussion, green kit, tambourine, hi-hat, maracas, cowbell, wood block taped to knee, salt shaker, guiro, claves, drums
- Kaidi Akinnibi - soprano saxophone, baritone saxophone, tenor saxophone, alto saxophone
- Seth Evans - piano, keyboards, bechstein grand piano, hammond organ
- Demi Garcia Sabat - handclaps, caj贸n, palmas, percussion, udu
- Blossom Caldarone - cello
- Joscelin Dent-Pooley - violin
- Ife Ogunjobi - trumpet
- Hus Ragip - boxing announcer
- Paul Jones - vespa, management
- Joe MacLaren - upright bass, electric upright bass
- BJ Cole - pedal steel guitar
- Finn Carter - bechstein grand piano
- Radio Rahim - radio host voice
- Max "Sizzle" Goulding - co-producer, engineer, triangle, handclaps, snaps, stomps
- David Rudnick - design
- Emiel Penninckx - design
- Maharani Yasmine Putri - design
- Dani Bennett-Spragg - engineer
- Luke Glazewski - additional engineering
- Calum Cassidy Sager - management
- Sarah Register - mastered by
- Marta Salogni - producer, mixed by, additional programming
- Steve Albini - recorded by