I'll be honest: I haven't thought of the Hellfire Sermons in ages. Sure, I have a couple of their singles, and a few compilations they were on (comprising about half of their released output), but it's been so long since I listened to them.
This cd compiles all five of their singles (released on the Hyme, Esurient and Dishy labels), as well as some of their comp tracks (remember the fabulous "Calling At Duke Street" lp on A Turntable Friend?) and a couple previously unreleased songs.
Since this collection is chronological, it's funny to look at it all at once, and see that the Hellfire Sermons were really two different bands; not in the line-up, which remain unchanged during the band's six years of existence, but in the band's sound. The split comes in 1991, after their third single, and just before the move to Dishy. Where the first few singles (and two extra songs from 1989's "H.O.N.E.Y.M.O.O.N." session) found them playing fairly melodic jangle pop, but still with an edge (sounding a bit like a calmer Josef K); the latter half of the record finds them much louder, but still retaining some of the melody, with lots of shouting about (now sounding like an angrier Josef K mixed with some Pixies and Wire influence). Most of the songs that I knew came from the earlier sound of the band, and I actually find that I don't like the second half of the record as much as the first (okay, the shouting mostly annoys me), though there are still very good songs.
Even though the Hellfires changed their sound, the high-quality songwriting never did change... MTQ=14/19
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