A Grove of Ashes and Aspens

Now Playing: The Devil Won’t Forgive Me by Hell in the Club

And just like that, we have another new album that dropped from an Italian metal band. Don’t you worry, we’ll talk about it.

But first, “who the hell (heh) are these people?” you may be asking yourself. Fear not, for I am here to tell you who they are.

Hell in the Club is a hard rock/heavy metal band from Italy, with music concerning themes of love, sex, and adjacent ideas. The band as it currently stands is made up of Andrea “Andy” Buratto on bass, Andrea “Picco” Piccardi on lead guitars, Marco Lazzarini on drums, and Tezzi Persson on vocals. Tezzi is the newest member of the band, having replaced Davide “Dave” Moras (who is also the singer of Elvenking, as Damna/Damnagoras), when he stepped down due to commitments with Elvenking and in his personal life. (It is important to note that Dave remains very close with his former bandmates despite this, joining them on stage when he can and calling them his brothers. All sides agree that him leaving the band was a very hard decision, as necessary as it was.)

Joker in the Pack is the band’s 7th studio album, and the first to feature Tezzi as singer. It’s been one that I’ve been excited for, especially to see how she steps up to the role and legacy with the band left behind by Dave.

The Devil Won’t Forget Me was the first and only single from the album, and acts as the perfect opening track to an album. The vocal line is immediately impressive and fitting of the style of the band, with a solid, punchy bassline that sits a bit higher in the mix than many other bands would have it. It’s a fun, angry song that shows off the power and skill of the band as well as the way they already mesh with the new singer. Truly a fantastic way to start a new album.

New Desire carries on with the powerful vocals and punchy bassline high in the mix, bringing a more exciting sentiment to the band after the snark of the opening track. It feels a little lighter, a little more whimsical, if such a thing can exist in metal. (Oh what the hell, it can absolutely exist, we’ve seen Twilight Force.) This is the kind of track I would expect to hear at a dance club when they have a live band playing. Hell, even when they don’t, I wouldn’t be surprised if this song came on.

Dirty Love has a bit more of a swing and almost country like feel to it, with the drumline being swung and the vocals having a bit more of that country twang to them, as I’ve heard it described. It has a generally similar lyrical feel to an older song from this band, Naked, but that’s a song for another time. It generally just feels like the kind of song you’d hear in a country club, if it were a little less heavy. I really like it, purely because the vibes are just chaotic enough to make sense from a metal band.

Robert the Doll is a little more in the “typical” metal feel. It brings out more of that country twang that Tezzi has in her voice, with a fun story about a creepy doll and some slightly unusual moves in the melodic vocal lines. It keeps the entire song feeling very fun scary, kinda like a Scooby Doo mystery almost. It keeps the style of the band going, with the punchy bassline high in the mix, and it’s really fun.

Fairytale has a bit more of an ominous start, with just bass and some guitars with interesting effects over them. As the full standard sound comes in, it feels a bit more like a standard metal track with a story tell. It brings in a sense of a fantastical world being at your fingertips if you just have the courage to reach out at look for it. It was also the one song on the album where Dave contributed material, and it fits the slightly darker and more melancholic sound his writing tends to take. (I love that melancholy in his writing, by the way, it’s wonderful.) The entire track is truly an ode to the beauty of the world around us and going forward one step at a time.

The Ocean is a bit more of a ballad, showing off Tezzi’s very lyrical vocal capabilities, as well as her ability to do pretty much any vocal style necessary. I always love a good metal ballad, and this track, especially with the occasional inclusion of piano and synth strings in the background just gives me everything I want from a good metal ballad. It also doesn’t feel out of place on the album, coming right after an already slightly darker track sonically and fitting into the power that they have shown themselves capable of as a band and as musicians.

Magnetars is a solid pick-me-up type track, coming back into a lot of that very fun sound the band has at the start of the album after the ballad while still not completely destroying the ballad feels. It lightens the mood of the album and keeps things interesting, the entire track just feeling very “I don’t care, I’m just here to have a good time.” It’s good feels in a world where good feels are in short supply, and it is deeply appreciated.

Pretty Little Freak Show brings back a little bit of those country vibes from earlier in the album, Tezzi’s vocals performing quite well in the role. It continues the upbeat vibe and power of the band, keeping the sound interesting and varying it up from other metal albums in similar styles. It feels light and like there’s always another secret, which is very intriguing to me. It also has light bisexual energy, with the object of the song being a woman and the singer also being a woman, but that’s probably me reading too far into something that’s not that deep.

Out in the Distance has a bit more of a darker power metal type feel, while still maintaining a distinct identity as not power metal. The bassline is very clear in this track, and there’s a beautiful little lyrical triple section as the chorus. (And as you know if you’ve been around a while, I love me a good triple section.) It feels like a ballad while still feeling light and whimsical and fun. I get the sense there’s a deeper story to this one and I want to learn about it.

When the Veil of Night Falls is the closing track of the album and fits into a bit more of a “traditional” metal sound while still fitting with the identity the band have carved for themselves. It is the perfect closing track, and it generally fits very nicely with the rest of the tracks.

This album is really fun. I like it a lot. I had already heard some of Tezzi’s vocals with the band before the album dropped, so I knew she’d be up to filling the role recently vacated by such a talented singer as Davide Moras, but this really blew any expectations I had out of the water. She’s a truly talented singer and I have so much respect for her for being able to step up to the role as well as she did.