The Hellroys Save 2020 with New Album “Hellroys On Earth”

Ladies and gentlemen, in the year of our Lord 2020, an unrelenting scourge has gripped the entire globe, disrupting life as we know it, paralyzing commerce, keeping us from congregating with our friends and family, and sending the entirety of society into a general malaise the likes the world hasn’t seen for over a century.

We’re of course talking about all of the whiny, uptight, constipated assholes on the internet constantly complaining about everything in an unrelenting crusade to usurp any and all of the fun and enjoyment out of life so we can all be as miserable as they are. Well like an enema straight up the keister, here comes The Hellroys—a.k.a. the purveyors of “Dumb Country Noise”—with their latest record called Hellroys on Earth to help unsuck 2020 as best they can.

Perfectly inappropriate for the holiday season, this three-piece band wastes their otherwise great musical talent and songwriting chops on bullshit country songs about how disgusting the human body is, and a singlewide full of sisterwives turning the tables on their suitor. It’s immature, ridiculous, and extremely entertaining, while being a lot more smart than it may seem on the surface. Oh and yes, it’s country—in a wheels-off, rambunctious kind of way.

You can keep your Wheeler Walker Jr. comparisons at arm’s length. Sure there’s plenty of toilet humor here, but this isn’t simply riding off shock value, and the Hellroys hijinks predate the Wheeler shtick, releasing their first record in 2015. Instead of just pushing the envelope all the time, the Hellroys rely on witty turns and a frenetic delivery to create a cartoonish version of country you’ll keep re-racking.

What the Hellroys have that some other comedic attempts at country don’t is a keen sense of perspective and elevated level of self-awareness, while the characters in their songs very commonly don’t. This is brought to the forefront in this hilarious “Arrested For Being Country.” But let’s not try to paint this music as erudite in any serious capacity. This is music to satisfy the 14-year-old boy in all of us and awaken the inner misfit.

The Hellroys have always been good at turning in cover songs as well. Their last record had a pretty rockin’ version of Steve Earle’s “Devil’s Right Hand,” and to top off this latest installment is a version of “Personal Jesus” that is pretty damn on point. One of the cool things about the Hellroys is that if they wanted, they could be a straight ahead country rock band and pull it off just fine. But what’s the fun in that?

Yeah the world is screwed up and people are assholes. But if you can’t blow off a little steam and enjoy a little humor every once in a while, you might find that the asshole is you. The Hellroys offer the perfect pressure release valve at the end of this infernal year with Hellroys On Earth.

1 3/4 Guns Up

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