Hellfire Sermons - Hymns: Ancient and Modern

A review from the US indie-quarterly, Under The Radar

This Liverpudlian quartet split up about a decade ago, leaving a brace of fine singles collected on this disc (19 tracks in all). Singer/guitarist Colin Pennington is the focus, alternating between yearning on pop tunes like "Rachel Clean" and straight-out ranting on harder cuts such as "Starshine." Meanwhile, the tight rhythm section of Alan Creevy and Andy Ford sometimes suggests neo-funksters like A Certain Ratio and New Fast Automatic Daffodils. Finally, guitarists Neal Carr's furious strumming calls to mind The Wedding Present. I'd easily recommend this for fans of pre-"Brit Pop" Brit pop bands, before the music became so scenester: House of Love, The La's, Chameleons, Biff! Bang! Pow!, Mighty Lemon Drops.

7 blips out of 10

By Matthew Christoffersen