HELLSONGS - HYMNS IN THE KEY OF 666

Sometimes, you just see a band name or an album name and you paint this picture in your mind of what their music is gonna be like. Such was the case with the group Hellsongs. I saw the name HellSongs and the album title Hymns in the Key of 666, and right there I decided this was gonna be some serious Doom Country, in the vein of Those Poor Bastards or Sons of Perdition. I really didn’t even spend enough time on the emusic page to notice the cover art or the “rock/pop” genre classification, hell, I didn’t even bother looking at the track listing. All it took to pique my interest was Hellsongs and Hymns in the Key of 666, and I just knew that it was going to be Doom Country. I was sure of it. Furthermore, not only was it Doom Country, but by the time it made it to my thumb drive and got plugged into my stereo, I had decided it was awesome Doom Country.

I could not have been more wrong.

Hellsongs fashion themselves as “LoungeMetal” and what they do is reinterpret metal classics as acoustic/electronic songs more fit for a coffee shop. Remember when Tori Amos released that cover album which featured a cover of Slayer’s “Raining Blood”? Yeah? Well, it’s exactly like that, except that Hellsongs actually pulls it off and manages to make the songs their own, ala Richard Cheese minus the Vegas lounge kitch. Over 10 tracks these Swedes manage to reinvent Metallica, Sabbath, Slayer, Iron Maiden and others, including a particularly interesting remake of Megadeth’s “Symphony of Destruction”.

I’m not saying this is something you’ll put in heavy rotation, but it is a fun listen. It also makes for an entertaining album to put on when you have company and watch as they have an internal struggle trying to figure out just what it is they are listening to.

Hellsongs - Symphony of Destruction
Megadeth - Symphony of Destruction

Hellsongs - Paranoid
Black Sabbath - Paranoid

Success: Hellsongs - Seasons in the Abyss
Failure: Tori Amos - Raining Blood

Slayer - Seasons in the Abyss
Slayer - Raining Blood


Hellsongs Official Site, Hellsongs on myspace, Buy Hymns in the Key of 666