Metal Review: Zimmer’s Hole, When You Were Shouting at the Devil…

Artist: Zimmer’s Hole
Album: When You Were Shouting at the Devil
Release: March 11, 2008

I’ve been trying to get this review out for days now but kept getting side-tracked by actual work. Let me say that as of today, April 15, this is Album of the Year stuff right here. Is this serious metal? Yes and no. Yes because it is hard-hitting ferocious sounding musical thunder that borrows from almost every sub-genre of the metal and roars at you with the amps turned up to 11. No, because while at the same time as paying homage to the metal genre, and doing it well, it does so with a satirical tongue-in-check air.

Songs like We Rule the F*cking Land and Hair Doesn’t Grow on Steel make fun of the opulence and grandiosity of power metal while at the same time reveling in those self same traits. Vocalist “the Heathen” manages death metal growls, hardcore screams, and 80s style howls with equal applomb and tracks like the titular When You Were Shouting at the Devil….We Were in League with Satan and Alright combine the heavy crunch of modern metal with old-school 80s style vocals/effects and boils everything down to a delicious reduction. Indeed, a satirical metal romp would be nigh incomplete without the special guest on The Vowel Song who I won’t name but will say that he is THE figure in the satirical metal world.

For a musical genre that often takes itself far too seriously for its own good an album that makes you headbang while grinning like a madman (if not outright laughing) is a rare and treasured thing indeed. If you even dare to call yourself a fan of metal you should buy this album. A solid A album, recommended with absolutely no reservations what-so-ever.