Hellripper aka James McBain is currently touring with Abbath and Toxic Holocaust. He was in Hamburg just a couple of days ago. Had I listened to this album a bit earlier, I might have gone and bought myself a ticket just to see the support act. Hellripper is a one-man band from Scotland formed in 2014. Since 2014 McBain has released three studio albums, two EPs and various splits. His third and latest studio album Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags was released in February 2023 and met with critical acclaim by both fans and music critics.
I am not familiar with Hellripper's complete discography but from what I've gathered so far, his newest release is considered to be a big step upwards for him. For me, Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags was great to listen to. An album with loads of melodies, amazing riffs, suprising twists and breakneck speed.
Lyrically, McBain explores Scottish folkore like the Nuckelavee, the Mester Stoor Worm or Kelpies and I got lost on Wikipedia for a while, which was fun. Otherwise the lyrics mainly deal with witchcraft, rituals, monsters from hell and satan, as to be expected from any self-respecting black metal album.
I've sat with this album for nearly two weeks now and I've played it quite often. Still, I find it difficult to describe the music. Officially, Hellripper is labled as black/speed metal. The speed metal part is obvious. Apart from the title track, all songs are fast as hell. Speed metal by definition is fast, technical and loud. Hellripper's got that covered. It is mostly the vocals, shrieking and spitting, that incorporate the black metal element into the music. When listening to this album, you can hear several influences and McBain manages to make a pretty awsome mix out of them. There is some punky and fast Motörhead (The Hissing Marches), there is a lot of Iron Maiden in the guitar work and soaring solos, some Judas Priest (The Cursed Carrion Crown starts with a pretty nice Halfordesque scream), thrashy shredding reminiscent of Metallica on Kill 'Em All and also some 90s melodic black metal sound like Dimmu Borgir or even Cradle of Filth. What's not to like?
My absolute favourite, without a doubt, is the title track. Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags is slower than the other songs and focuses a lot more on building atmosphere. There is this nice Bathory-bit at the beginning and around 2/3 of the song that made me fall in love immediately. The verses are delivered in McBain's very own screeching style, while the chorus entails this very catchy gang-shout of "Warlocks!" that will stick with you for quite some time. And of course, this song features the epic bagpipes everyone is gushing over at the end. I love them too. They are great.
The closing song Mester Stoor Worm shows a different side to McBain's vocals. Apart from screeching, there is also a growled layer, which makes this song stand out to me. And then there is super short acoustic interlude. Over in the blink of an eye. It is those surprising elements I like about this album.
While those two songs are by far my favourite songs, I The Deceiver and The Cursed Carrion Crown are not far behind.
And before I sign off for today, I also love the album cover. The goat looks like something AI might come up with if you asked it to draw a creepy goat. It looks right at first glance but becomes more disturbing the longer you look at it. Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags is a great album, that should satisfy listeners from all kinds of genres. It pays tribute to several genre-pioneering bands, without ever sounding like an uninspired rip-off. I'll keep my eyes and ears open for any future releases.
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