Review: Hella

hella
Hella
“Hold Your Horse Is”
(5 Rue Christine)

Imagine a band derived of only two people that specialize in making noise. You’d come up clueless unless you have heard of the band Hella.  So, as far as I know there are only two members in this band. The two are guitarist Spencer Seim and drummer Zach Hill. These two individuals must have a pretty sick and twisted imagination to come up with this form of music. I couldn’t help to laugh when I checked out their website. It’s absolutely ridiculous. They inform you on where they are playing shows, who’s in the band,  how to contact them. They also have two mp3s that you are able to download. That’s it. Their label 5rc is just as weird. Oh boy… I just can’t wait to see what other strange bands that this label has to offer. The opening song “the D. Elkan”, sounds like something out of a 1986 Nintendo game. It’s pretty cool and then it explodes into the next track “Biblical Violence” which begins to sound a little like At The Drive In then transfers into what somewhat sounds like Primus. Each song on this album has it’s own character and structure.  The band is very experimental. I would definitely classify them as experimental rock. Geek or nerd rock also comes to mind. On that note, I’d like to see what the guys from Weezer would sound like if they started an experimental rock band. That would be pretty cool. Hella sounds like a combination of At The Drive IN and Primus in my opinion. The guitar playing is all over the place as well as the drumming. Hella is like the Primus of our new generation. Is Hella from outerspace? I wouldn’t be surprised if they were. Overall, I found the album to be quite unique. The songs are a bit much to withstand for very long. The album ended up giving me a headache which made this review a little difficult to do. You know the word is present in the bands name. Hella is like a crazy, psychotic, video game sounding acid trip. I’m not sure if you’re ready for this one yet. If you think you are then be prepared for a form of music that will blow your mind or in some cases make your head explode.