Bloody Hammers: Under Satan’s Sun Album Review!
Bloody Hammers Music Review:
How time flies eh? I haven’t done a music review since Basement Torture Killings (see review here) back in January 2022, so it’s definitely overdue. Last time I reviewed a small handful of loud fast paced metal albums, so let’s slow the pace a bit.
Bloody Hammers are a hubby and wife duo mainly, Anders and Devallia (on this album, Doza Mendoza of Lighting Born and Mega Colossus contributes drums here and there). They’ve been on the scene a while, since the late 1990s for Anders. Goth Rock, Doom Metal, Occult Rock… what is the category? Just Bloody Hammers. They’re a merge of modern, early 2000s and old school heavy rock. Of course, for all purposes of Severed Cinema, there’s a huge dollop of classic horror. This plays with the feel of a world haunted by Amicus, Universal, and Hammer. A lot of predictable but comfortable riffs, nothing too adventurous, simply a nice journey for lovers of this kind of music.
For instance, opening the album, Under Satan’s Sun, with the “Did you ever think, when the earth goes by, that someday you are going to die!” line courtesy of The Hearse song. I last heard this sample waaaay back in the early ‘90s when Jonathan Saul Kane, operating as Depth Charge, released a song called Dead by Dawn (which naturally also sampled Evil Dead 2) so I felt a nice buzz of nostalgia. Straight into fuzzy guitars with a lick of Electric Wizard, Uncle Acid (see review here) senses. The Town That Dreaded Sundown is a head nodding, foot tapping doozy of a tune that brilliantly highlights Anders and his voice. “There’s a killer among us all, a phantom that has come to see you fall…”
Spearfinger is more up-tempo and has the standard ‘70s vibe that is traditional ingredient of this sort of genre in metal. It’s good, the lyrics describing the hunter and the prey in gruesome terms, but next up comes, to me, the best song. In fact, this one is perhaps the most romantic tune I have ever listened to. I played it to my beloved Partner in Gore, Willow who now has a copy for headphones when out and about. Death Does Us Part combines keys with guitar and smashing drums for a building drama as it tells the tale and last moments of a couple about to leap to their death rather than face the fallout of their crimes. “For years one breath one voice, two spirits indivisible… Grim but beautiful. It’s one last trip together, a kiss before our final plunge… Blissfully succumb….” They decide as well that beyond flesh they will start again in Hell.
Outstanding also happens to describe their Alice Cooper cover, Second Coming (off the 1971 epic, Love It to Death LP). Damn, I love that song anyway and Bloody Hammers have added a new dimension to it! As a matter of fact, whilst listening to Welcome to the Horror Show, Dead Man’s Shadow on the Wall and so on, there really is a distinct Alice Cooper influence over this album. And that’s a good thing.
Bloody Hammers tend to release a new long player every couple of years or so plus tour now and then. Don’t expect anything earth moving but expect your soul and ears to ride along in the long black car.
Here’s a video for Death Does Us Part, with that traditional desert gritty roadside look.
Album Info:
Band: Bloody Hammers
Album: Under Satan’s Sun
Members: Anders Manga (vocals, guitar, bass), Devallia (organs, keyboards), Doza Mendoza (drums)
Recorded: Sterling Sound
Mastered: Ryan Smith
Year: 2014
Country: USA
Runtime: 44min 47sec
Label: Napalm Records
Track Listing:
01. The Town That Dreaded Sundown
02. Spearfinger
03. Death Does Us Part
04. Second Coming
05. Dead Man’s Shadow on the Wall
06. Under Satan’s Sun
07. Welcome to the Horror Show
08. The Moon-Eyed People
09. The Necromancer
10. The Last Alarm
