Black Midi - Hellfire

Hellfire is the third studio album by English experimental rock band black midi, released in July 2022 via Rough Trade.

black midi - the UK-based trio of Geordie Greep (guitar, vocals), Cameron Picton (bass, vocals) and Morgan Simpson (drums) - release their third album, ‘Hellfire’, out on Rough Trade.

Written in isolation in London after the release of last year’s Cavalcade, ‘Hellfire’ builds on the melodic and harmonic elements of its predecessor, while expanding the brutality and intensity of their debut, ‘Schlagenheim’. As Greep describes it: “if ‘Cavalcade’ was a drama, ‘Hellfire’ is like an epic action film” that delves into overlapping themes of pain, loss and anguish. It is their most thematically cohesive and intentional album yet.

Whereas the stories of ‘Cavalcade’ were told in third person, Hellfire is presented in first-person and tells the tales of morally suspect characters. There are direct dramatic monologues, flamboyantly appealing to our degraded sense of right and wrong. You’re never quite sure whether to laugh at or be horrified.

Creating ‘Hellfire’ took six months, sprouting from a riff on one of the group’s oldest jams, which bloomed into the futuristic boxing drama, ‘Sugar/Tzu’.

The range, power and potent production of black midi’s music has never been greater than on ‘Hellfire’, partly thanks to producer Marta Salogni, who worked with the band on ‘Cavalcade’ opener, ‘John L’. But, as always, the type of music black midi play isn’t as important as its quality. And whatever you think about black midi’s music isn’t as important as how you feel about it.

This album is on black vinyl housed in a gatefold sleeve, pressed in the UK via Rough Trade.