Hellyeah-Hellyeah

Hellyeah is an amazing mix of Pantera, Mudvayne, and Damageplan. Hellyeah introduced me to a new genre of music known as sludge metal. Sludge metal has a really thick, heavy sound with really down-tuned, dark guitar distortions, a really crunchy bass sound, and usually yelled vocals with occasional singing or screaming. Some other well known sludge bands include Down, High on Fire, Black Label Society, and Superjoint Ritual. Hellyeah combines the traditional sludge metal sound with heavy metal, some thrash and some groove metal (due to Vinnie Paul being from Pantera).

My favorite musician from this band is without a doubt Vinnie Paul. Vinnie Paul was the drummer for Pantera (R.I.P.), and is the current drummer for the band that he founded called Damageplan. This album was recorded in a homemade studio in the backyard of a friend of the band in roughly one month. It was very successful and received mostly positive reviews (including this one). Bassist Montano left the band about a week after the album’s release due to personal differences. He was then replaced with the current Damageplan bassist.

Listening to this album was really an enjoyable exploration of territory I hadn’t uncovered yet. My favorite song off the album is the title song. This song really describes who these guys are and that they are not the band that you want to mess around with. The single of the album, Alcohaulin’ Ass, was a huge success and was played on satellite radio stations around the world. I honestly like every single song off the album. I am extremely impressed and cannot wait for their new album. I’m giving this one 19/20.