Artist: Zimmers Hole
Label: Century Media
Release: 2008
Can a parody of classic late-’80s metal sound damn good and innovative? Canada’s ZIMMER’S HOLE answered that question by recording their third album, When you were shouting at the devil…we were in league with Satan.
The typical Zimmer’s hole sarcasm, which runs through the whole album both lyrically and musically, is already clear from the title of the new record.
You could easily file When you were… under modern melodic death/thrash metal, but that label is far too stingy and pretty unfair, since the album is packed with elements, from classic guitar solos to redneck blues grooves with harmonica sounds that make a great intro to the song Devil’s mouth. The whole album is super dynamic, the tempo shifts from song to song, and so does the vocal, masterfully belted out by ”The Heathen”, a truly excellent singer with a huge range. Neither the high, squealing power-metal trills nor the low, deep death metal growls are a problem for him.
After the first listen you get a strange feeling, because you can’t tell whether the idea behind the album is serious or the whole thing is just a goofy, cliché-ridden parody of metal, since the album is so classically metal that it’s basically a stereotype. It all sounds like you’ve heard it before, every guitar riff, every solo, the lyrics…nothing feels particularly innovative, and yet it all sounds really fresh. The album is a true masterpiece of musical contradiction, and no wonder it sounds this way, since the main producer is world-famous Devin Townsend (Strapping young lad), who definitely helps give it a good, listenable sound. The only thing you could count as a minus is that the whole thing is a bit too similar to the Strapping young lad albums. An exception, and also part of Zimmer’s hole’s potential, is the social critique, which fits the current state of the world absolutely fantastically and reaches its peak in the song The wovel song, which ironically portrays the state of literacy in the USA. Finally, a meaningful confrontation of real and concrete social problems in metal music.
This album is honestly hard to describe as a whole, because the songs really differ a lot, not just in speed but also in metal subgenres, so you can hear death metal, heavy metal, thrash metal and even power metal.. Every song is its own unit and is hard to compare with the next one, and there’s no common denominator apart from great sound and excellent production. A genuinely surprising, great album that deserves the attention of every metal ear.
Lineup
Chris Valagao ”The Heathen”- lead vocals
Jed Simon – guitars, backing vocals
Byron Stroud – bass guitar, backing vocals
Gene Hoglan – drums
Production
Devin Townsend
Tracklist
1.When You Were Shouting At The Devil…We Were In League With Satan (05:15)
2.We Rule The Fucking Land (03:51)
3.The Flight of the Night Bat (02:41)
4.1312 (02:53)
5.Devil’s Mouth (03:19)
6.The Vowel Song (02:00)
7.Fista Corps (03:15)
8.Anonymous Esophagus (03:00)
9.Alright (03:11)
10.Hair Doesn’t Grow on Steel (03:52)
11.What’s My Name…Evil! (06:33)
