Album Review: There's No 666 In Outer Space
Hella's Fourth LP Expands the Band, Combining Prog with Noise
Jan 3, 2009
Hella's most recent release, the 2007 There's No 666 In Outer Space, is an album that should be drastically different from the Hella fans are used to. Founding members Zach Hill (drummer) and Spencer Seim (guitarist) have brought in bass, keyboards, and vocals for every track, switched to Mike Patton's noise-rock label Ipecac Recordings, and even started their own solo careers.
But the new album is pure Hella, hearkening back to the chaotic nature of their earlier days.
Spencer Seim and Zach Hill: Different Musicians, Same Sound
There's No 666 In Outer Space comes as a relief for Hella fans. Their first two albums aggravated listeners' ears (in the good way) with Hill's sporadic bursts of drum prowess and Seim's rapid-picking guitar style.
Their third release, Churches Gone Wild/Chirpin' Hard, was a double album, with one disc Hill's music and the other disc Seim's. The contrast between the artists was evident—Seim's music gravitated more towards Nintendocore, while Hill's was both more cryptic and harsher than usual. Their differences were made even clearer with Hill's solo album Astrological Straits and Seim's side project, Nintendo rock band sBACH.
Fortunately, the new LP seems to resolve any musical split between the founding members of Hella, and There's No 666 is almost a straight evolution of their debut, the 2002 Hold Your Horse Is. The album expands on personnel, which allows for even more chaos, yet the lyrical element brings Hella's music back to some semblance of structure. “The Ungrateful Dead”, for example, would probably sound terrible without the lyrical saving grace, but it actually becomes somewhat catchy with the addition of lyrics.
There's No 666 In Outer Space. There's No Meaning, Either
Ironically, the biggest qualm with There's No 666 In Outer Space also comes from the addition of vocalization. While singer Aaron Ross has a voice perfectly suited for the sound of Hella, his lyrics often seem to be either meaningless or ridiculous.
For example, “2012 and Countless” is two minutes of awesome instrumental buildup which culminates in Ross singing “There's No 666 In Outer Space” for 2 full minutes in a falsetto. Ross has his moments, but a good deal of his singing hinders Hill and Seim, making it unfortunate that they are taking his cues.
This isn't to say that the Hella album is terrible or that Hill and Seim shouldn't have added the new members. On the contrary, the synthesized effects help settle musical differences between the two, and the vocalizations give the band a structure to work around and allow for impressive breakdowns as in the end of “The Things That People Do When They Think No One's Looking”. Overall, There's No 666 In Outer Space is a step forward for Hella. They have all the correct elements to be mind-blowing, and hopefully by the next album, the facets of their sound will be refined.
7.75/10- Hella certainly has the talent and potential to take over the world, and certain moments of There's No 666 In Outer Space emphasize this. Flaws such as Ross' unnecessary vocals bring it down, but it's not exactly like the band cares about sounding pretty.
There's No 666 In Outer Space was released on Ipecac Recordings.
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