Hellyeah

Hell Yeah's debut album is really one of the worst metal records in recent memory. You'd think a project involving Vinnie Paul would be great, right? Wrong. This band's debut record is really bad. Only three cuts out of the entire record are good. The rest of the album sucks. The songs are poorly written with bad lyrics, bad vocals, and repetitive riffs that become tiresome. I felt that the album was lazy and the members involved in the project were just trying to copy Pantera's sound, but with the added flavor of their respective bands. The sound of the album is raw, intense, and it just sounds as if they're trying to outdo everything that Pantera has done during their career. By hearing this album, you can clearly understand my point.

This debut sounds as if the band was trying to simply write the heaviest record they could. Unfortunately, the album lacks any sense of real melody to the riffs. What we have here is an album filled with more boring songs than memorable, fun tunes that really stand out. The band is just tired and uninspired. My biggest problem with the album is that it just isn't that interesting to listen to. The band try to write the heaviest songs, but they lacks any technical skill. This album has three good tracks: You Wouldn't Know, Alcohaulin' Ass, and the title track. Aside from this, the album isn't impressive and the songs tend to sound the same. Another point of note is the lyrics. I felt the band couldn't write any good lyrics and Chad Grey tries too hard this time around for an angry, angst-ridden vocal delivery that simply doesn't feel right. Like I stated earlier, these guys are simply trying to outdo what they did in their previous bands, and the result is a very mediocre one.

The production is raw, unpolished, and gives the album an in-your-face sound to it. The songwriting feels sloppy and lacks any real spark that would make this album a must. This is an album that has too many simplistic song structures, songs that rely more on how heavy the guitars are, and how vulgar the lyrics are. This album presents the listener with a tired formula that doesn't work. These musicians are struggling with trying to deliver good metal, but they ultimately fail because Hell Yeah is simply a cliché of previous bands. The fact that the band's lyrics only deal with partying and boozing it up and have no real meaning aside from debauchery is really a let-down. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good partying tune, but I also felt the band could have delivered more personal, meaningful songs. This is really what makes this band such a disappointment.

I felt that the album didn't withstand multiple listens and that the more I listened to it, the more I heard its flaws. I really wanted to enjoy this album, but after giving it numerous listens, you can hear that there is more filler than anything. The album feels rushed with little emphasis on the care for the music. The album as whole is a big disappointment and makes Hell Yeah a forgettable super group.

Despite what most bigoted anti-rural Americans would tell you, we could always use a few more heavy Southern rock bands, especially if they're willing to take the rustic, bumpkin grooves of a Molly Hatchet or Lynyrd Skynyrd, and the more recent, unsung Agony Column and Raging Slab and run with this cross-section of styles into a more extreme territory. Having drummer Vinnie Paul of Pantera adopt such a formula for his post-Damageplan project is not such a stretch; this man has grown up among such influences and both of his alma maters were certainly exhibited traits of nasty Texas grooves and shotgun rodeo attitude.

But the problem with Hellyeah starts long before the baneful first notes of the namesake track even erupt, and you need look no further than the absolutely shoddy cover image, which has 'poseurs' written all over it, a bunch of men in cowboy hats prominently displaying tattoos, crossed 'tough guy' arms or Vinnie's 'Here's lookin' at you, slickster rock pose', with the longhairs tucked conveniently behind for some metallic cred. With the undeniable notoriety and success Pantera, and the shitty bands Damageplan and Mudvayne (whose members represent 80% of this lineup, joined by guitarist Tom Maxwell of Nothingface), wouldn't you think a little more could be scrounged up than a flaming pose shot affixed to a horrendous Photoshop logo? This album was issued through Epic/Sony records, so are you fucking kidding? A little effort goes a long way, and the image fronting this debut shows none. It does not bode well for the musical content...

...and once you've peeled away every urge to simply toss this in the dustbin then and there, summoning up the old wives' morality play on never judging a book by its cover, you are greeted with a moderately bouncy thrash riff and Chad Gray's Southern charged hybrid of Rob Zombie, Phil Anselmo and David of Disturbed. I won't deny the man has some power in his pipes, but he's so often used it for the wrong reasons, and this is just the latest, an awful smattering of nu-metal aggression that wouldn't be sufficient for the backstage at an OzzFest. The remainder of the band also phones in the material, creating generic verse-chorus songs out of horrendously juvenile lyrics that wouldn't fly if the band members were 12. I mean, even in this very first song, the thrash rhythm disappears within a moment, ceded to an atrocious bounce-core groove chorus which was only mildly entertaining when Biohazard did it numerous times in the early 90s. As for the lyrics...

'If ya don't give a shit ya getcha hellyeah
Throwin' fists in the pit ya getcha hellyeah
Think you're fuckin' with this well hell no.
Balls, volume, strength getcha come on
Drinking beer smoking weed ya getcha hellyeah
Gotta bruised attitude ya getcha hellyeah,
Think you're fuckin' with this well hell no
Balls, volume, strength getcha come on'

Seriously, is there a human being in this country, or this world dumb enough to actually think that these are good or inspiring lyrics? FUCK OFF.

Beyond this abortion, the band immediately lurches into a big melodic radio rocker you'd expect out of Puddle of Mudd or any other failure to launch at Alice in Chain's rectum. More melodic chords, a typical ascending pattern of notes and no lights on at home. Fuck, if I wanted to listen to this shit I'd just stick to Corrosion of Conformity's midlife crisis. The rest of the album merely bounces between these poles. The aggressive content includes the rappy stupidity of "Matter of Time", the more thrash-heavy "Waging War", and "Rotten to the Core". Wannabe Alice in Chains songs include "Star" and "Nausea", the latter being the one track on this album that is even mildly catchy, and even then only for a few seconds. I'd love to point out some other strengths here, but aside from the production, to which plenty of resources were poured into, there is just nothing one can say, for any of this pedestrian mental disability manifesto.

So in short, you're not getting a kickass Southern groove metal record here. You might have thought you were signing up for such a prospect, what with the cowboy hats, the Christawful band moniker and raucous attitudes. What Hellyeah is, is just a celebrity sausagefest of failure. Failure to write good music, failure as proof of a band concept, failure to even lick the boots of the band's other project (most of which are utter poo poo themselves). How about you tough guys harden the fuck up and write something worthwhile? Take all of this largely undeserved celebrity you have ridden into this major label deal, and write us an album that makes us want to drink rattlesnake venom, plant boots in city liberal hipster asses and shatter whiskey bottles at 100 yards with rifles? "Alcohaulin' Ass"? Clearly you need to lay off the sauce and haul some ass in other areas, like writing music that might validate the waste of space you are.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Vinnie Paul has been hell bent on destroying what little shreds of credibility he’s had left over from the previous decade, as can be assessed by that disastrous failure that he put together with his now late brother known as Damageplan. Nevertheless, I’m not one to jump completely on the bandwagon with others who’ve been trashing his projects since Pantera’s demise, as I can’t qualify said project completely as nu-metal the way others I‘ve spoken with have. Sure, said genre is heavily influenced by groove metal and the two often intersect with each other at key points, but I’m not quite ready to go along with the assertion that Hellyeah is completely out of the realm of metal’s established paradigm the way bands like Biohazard and Breaking Benjamin are, though it does manage to grate on the balls of any true metal loving freak just as badly.

“Hellyeah” is musically the logical outgrowth of what Damageplan was, which is a continuing deterioration of Pantera’s established sound since 1992. Though the absence of Dimebag here eliminates what little lead playing majesty could be attributed to the former and replaces it with what sounds like a 2nd year guitar student jamming on a blues scale, the general riff usage here is perfectly in line with the 2 or 3 note groove riffs and single chord slams on full display 3 years prior to this. Chad Gray and Patrick Lachman are not really all that distinct from each other vocally, though the latter does have a respectable background as a guitarist in a handful of reputable metal acts. It is all basic, run-of-the-mill Layne Staley worship, meshed with Phil Anselmo’s pseudo-manly shouting style ala “Vulgar Display Of Power”, ergo what you heard out of most groove metal and mallcore bands back in the mid-90s and still hear out of current nu-metal bands that incorporate elements of both styles.

Having said all of that, in spite of qualifying as metal in a loose sense, there are some areas where this gets dragged down below the level of even non-Metal poseurs like Slipknot and Five Finger Death Punch. The most blatant example is the sheer lack of intelligence displayed anywhere on this album lyrically. Pretentious vulgarity ad nauseum is usually something reserved for early 90s Gangsta types and their current “I wish I wasn’t white” equivalents, but here even the original king of white boy rapping meets trailer trash glorification Kid Rock looks intelligent by comparison. It’s all hell yeah, we don’t give a shit, don’t give a fuck, so you fucking fuckers with your fucking jobs and your fucking clean shaved fucking faces can fucking go to hell, and whatever other profane fucking references to whatever straw man fucking images of their fucking detractors these groovy, tattoo toting fuckers could pull out of their fucking asses over the weekend that this album was probably fucking written on.

The songwriting on here isn’t terribly creative, even when considering the style that this is in and adjusting one’s standards accordingly. “Waging War” is probably the closest thing to a tolerable song, minus Gray’s insisting on vomiting into the microphone, and really only succeeds in being yet another in a longstanding line of fast half-thrash “Fucking Hostile” clones. “You Wouldn’t Know” is pure grunge that can’t really figure out if it wants to emulate 90s Anthrax or Nickelback. “In The Mood” sounds almost like the first minute of “Rooster” with some really boring, 2nd year guitar student blues soloing thrown over it. “Rotten To The Core” ventures out of groove metal territory on one or two riffs and reaches for Papa Roach territory. And if all of this isn’t enough to turn you off to this album, “Alcohaulin’ Ass” takes an already bad acoustic ballad approach normally reserved to Stained and successfully stereotypes American Southern culture so badly that even a Texas-hating New Yorker might be possessed to condemn it on said grounds.

Many have rightly pointed to this as being a really obvious cash out on the current popularity of Mudvayne by Paul, who wrongly thought that he could also straddle such a huge divide and still rope in old fans of early 90s Pantera. Suffice to say, he succeeded in the first goal as this sold pretty heavily and secured a high position in the Top 40. But predictably, the backlash towards this in the metal community has been fairly consistent, though at times hypocritical as many of these people still defend Damageplan musically. Sure, it’s metal, but Hellyeah should still be condemned as a really poor version of it and ought not sell well amongst any who put riffs and songwriting ahead of appealing the masses of asses at large in mainstream pop culture.

Originally submitted to (www.metal-observer.com) on March 8, 2010.

Yeah, so this is pretty much awful. This is not metal. I will explain what it is.

Basically, what we have here is an incredibly simple album.

Take the lead singer of Mudvayne (literally) and have him put on a cowboy hat and try to sound southern. Then, take Members of other shitty bands (like nothingface) and then add Vinnie Paul. Congrats! You've made a shitty "super-group" without any talent. Does not sound like a good idea to me. Pantera had some cool stuff in my opinion but, they wouldn't have been anything without Dimebag and it shows here.

The riffs on this album are generally simple power chords repeated multiple times. Hell, half the time they are pretty far in the background as well, but it isn't as if they are anything worth hearing anything. The vocals are of course, awful. I am not even sure if they were even trying to be metal, but they fail equally at being legitimate southern rock. They try to create a southern vibe throughout the entire album. However, the do not have any southern sounding riffs, leads, or vocals. I know, you might be saying "if there are no southern sounding...anything...on the album then how can they be trying to be southern" but, just look at them. If you combine their look, with the (awfully written) lyrics, you will know what I mean. It tries to create a "simple yet badass" atmosphere but, really just sounds tired and weak. Alabama Thunderpussy, this is not.

Oh, and yeah the lyrics suck too..

There aren't any hidden gems here, so if you think that this band might be better than their singles imply, don't bother. It sounds like what it is. Picture a regular modern rock band with Mudvayne's lead singer and unintelligent pseudo-cowboy gimmicks, and you have HellYeah. Vinnie Paul doesn't add anything here. Don't be fooled by him being in the band. This sounds nothing like Pantera. Hell, this album is worse than anything Damage Plan did, and they weren't exactly brilliant.

Scoring Summary: I really could give this garbage a 0, but I want to make that at least semi-difficult to achieve, so here we go. 4 points for being less annoying than Nothingface or Mudvayne. 1 point for the occasional uninspired lead (which takes more skill than Linkin Park). I guess I'll throw in 3 points for not being quite as big of posers as Annihilator. There you have it. A generous 8 points.

It really is too bad that Vinnie Paul was the one who lived....

RIP Dimebag

Where to begin with this mess of a band? Track one seems like a decent place: Hellyeah, is its title, as is the album title, and the band name. And that about sums up what one should expect from this group; derivative, trite, and unbearably stupid music that should have fans of the bands from which this "supergroup" is comprised scratching their heads and stabbing their ears.

For starters, Hellyeah is comprised of members of three bands: Pantera, Mudvayne, and Nothingface. Vinnie Paul, the lesser of the Abbott brothers, acts as a godfather of sorts for the group; based on this, let's all pray he doesn't attempt to do anything similar again.

The group lurches its way through 12 tracks that all sound the same, and never sound good. For an album with such a background of experience, the fact that these tracks manage to be so terrible is almost astounding. The problem lies in the fact that these bands, while ranging from legendary (Pantera) to almost unlikeable (Mudvayne), simply should not cooperate for any musical endeavor. Pantera were thrash; Nothingface, aggro, and Mudvayne somewhere between math-metal and American alternative metal-- so while the latter two toured together, they play styles of metal that differ harshly.

This wouldn't be a problem if each group attempted to filter this influence through the group's Southern metal style; but they don't. What they do instead is attempt to recreate the worst moments of Pantera's career with members from Mudvayne acting as Dimebag and Phil Anselmo. Why, is beyond me: if anything, the group is made up of the worst portion of Mudvayne-- at least the rhythm section is talented. Chad Gray is one of the worst lyricists ever, even in the sound-over-substance world of metal-- that he is the main lyricist here is both painfully obvious and just plain painful.

To top it off, the group is playing Southern metal (supposedly), but Mudvayne are from Peoria, Illinois of all places. Nothingface hail from Washington DC. The only person here who should be playing Southern music is Vinnie Paul; the results sound almost like a parody, only without any sense of irony or fun.

That this group is sullying two very good bands is unforgivable. If Pantera's place in metal history isn't cemented already, this certainly won't help sway naysayers. Nothingface are a personal favorite of mine, and their music shouldn't be anyway associated with this train wreck. This isn't the worst album ever, but it is the worst for these associated acts.

10/100. Don't even waste your time. Pick up Far Beyond Driven or An Audio Guide to Everyday Atrocity and remind yourself that these boys make some great metal when they're not named Hellyeah and wearing stupid cowboy hats.

This is the most unintentionally funny music that I've heard since Kevin Federline. I swear that I was laughing at Hellyeah the entire time that I was listening to them. There are some redeeming values to this CD but you'll be kicking yourself if you buy it, so do yourself a favor and don't.

First the good: Vinnie Paul Abbot is still an incredible drummer. He was great in Pantera and still sounds good here. It's just a shame that he's in such a shitty band when Pantera was so legendary. I really feel sorry for Vinnie since he's been playing his heart out but hasn't been on a good record since The Great Southern Trendkill.

Secondly, the opening track is good. Hellyeah must have put most of their recording time into making sure that the album starts off right. At the same time, the first two tracks on St. Anger were good and we all know what came after those. (Apologies for reminding you of that album.)

Good points aside, there is nothing else redeeming about this album. Hellyeah is a terrible band and they have the absolute worst lyrics that I've ever heard and the fact that they even titled a song Alcoholin' Ass shows that they are very conscious of this fact and expect banal lyrics to actually make this thing sell. The uber-Satanism of Akercocke and Deicide as well as the hollow machismo of Manowar seem intelligent in comparison to this drivel that somehow qualify as lyrics.

Oh, and musically Chad Gray sounds terrible and strained. He sounds exactly how a vocalist who ruined his voice by screaming the wrong way and smoking too many cigarettes should, which is to say that he isn't any good. His other band, (and that of guitarist Greg Tribbitt) Mudvayne only got signed because they were a sub-par copy of Slipknot whose record label forced them onto the ballot for the VMAs MTV2 award, and since MTV2 has always been the segregated channel for metalheads so that metal doesn't "pollute" the regular MTV or *gasp* get onto TRL, it was inevitable that Mudvayne would win. And thus, Chad and Greg continue to bring all of their untalented musical skills to this "band."

Also, I'm not familiar with Nothingface even though I've heard of them before, but from what I can tell, the album suffers from simple bass lines that are barely audible and their other guitarist uses up his only good riffs on the first song.

And the southern rock thing is forced. Vinnie Paul is from Texas, Chad and Greg are from the Illinois, and Tom and Jerry are from D.C. They just play up the whole southern thing for marketing purposes. If you want to hear metal with southern rock influences, then please listen to Mastodon to hear it done right and don't blow $15 on these guys.

The only people that I could ever possibly recommend this album to are people who enjoy movies like The Giant Claw and Bad Taste since it's the musical equivalent of a B-Movie. If you like laughing at terrible attempts at entertainment, then you will find Alcohaulin' Ass to be the new Popozao. If you like bands that have actual substance behind their music, then you'll probably enjoy anything other than Hellyeah a lot more than you'll enjoy this album.

I can't really say much about this that hasn't already been said in the below reviews. Nu-metal shit made up of shit nu-metal band members (and Vinnie Paul of Pantera, Damageplan, etc - bad move, Vinnie). Two of the members are from Mudvayne who I hate. Hellyeah is therefore very Mudvayne. Which I hate.

The music is at times reminiscent of Linkin Park who I hate - just go listen to "Star". Which I hate. The riffs are dry as a bone, one that has been left in a really really dry place like a desert. That's pretty dry. The drumming is admittedly as tight as a crab's arsehole, but it’s still no excuse for Vinnie's appearance on this album. His stickwork is pretty much the highlight for the album, good work saving it from total oblivion there. That said, it is still the slackest performance I've heard from the cowboy.

The songs themselves are pretty dissimilar, except for the odd lame ballad such as "Alcohaulin' Ass". Right from the get go, I feel like turning the album straight off and throwing it outside into a conveniently placed garbage truck. Because it's utter garbage - get it? I think there is possibly one track with a bit of attitude, “Goddamn”, which is still pretty skippable.

I had nothing against the Damageplan album, I actually liked it quite a bit. It seemed to get quite a lot of negative reviews on this site, but believe me - it is far better than this.

That was pretty much my reaction upon actually finding this band on the Metal Archives. I picked up the album despite the presence of worthless nu-metal musicians because, hey, it was supposed to be southern rock/metal from Texas, so how bad could it be?

Very bad, as it happens. A southern rock album should have bluesy riffs, country music overtones and plenty of attitude. This has watered-down Pantera riffs, nothing even approaching country and the cliched, forced attempt at "attitude" one might expect out of a band comprised largely of nu-metallers. It must be said that they do make an attempt to sound country-ish on "Alcohaulin' Ass" (now there's a pun worthy of O. Henry), but it's painfully bad. Acoustic strumming, occasional slide guitar, and lyrics about dip and whiskey do not a make country song. They might make you sound like an idiot though, if you don't know what you're doing - and these guys have no idea.

Vinnie Paul was foolish for even getting involved with this; nonetheless, he's the best thing about this album - which, considering that he's never been all that spectacular, should tell you a lot about what to expect here. He does a decent job - but everybody else pretty much blows.

Tell me something: why does this band need two guitarists? They spend most of the album playing the same damn thing, except for when one guitar attempts a solo or carries a riff by itself for a few measures before the other one comes in playing...the same riff.

I use the term "riff" very loosely, because it's all power chords and chugging, interspersed with rip-offs of all Pantera's weakest moments. The solos are bad, too - very short, not too fast, and completely pointless in the context of the songs. There's really nothing on this album that you couldn't learn in your first month of playing guitar.

Mean while, the bass, when and if you can even hear it, does absolutely nothing striking. It's just sort of there.

And then there are the vocals. Ho-lee shit, son. For someone who tries as hard as this guy does to look like a badass on the album cover, this kind of whining is unforgivable. He moans along through such choice lines as "you couldn't be me even if you wanted to/everything I've been through/you wouldn't know" and "alcohaulin' ass/pour another drink in my glass" sounding just as pathetic as the singer from Mudvayne - oh wait, he IS the singer from Mudvayne. Aren't you the guy who was all got up in black and wearing eyeliner in the "Happy?" video? And now you're trying to be Texas cowboy? Psh.

When he's not moaning, he's...well, I don't want to say screaming, and I don't want to say growling, either. His harsh vocals are unique, but not at all in a good way. Nobody else sounds quite like him, and there is a good reason for that.

The album is about 45 minutes long, but it all starts to run together about 15 minutes in. Each successive song is just as uninspired as the last, and it's truly a chore to get through the whole thing in one sitting. Not that there's any reason to, except pure spite.

I suspect that most of the bashing of this album will come from metal purists, but a purist I am not. (I pretty much wrecked my purist status by giving Lamb of God's "Sacrament" a better review than Wintersun's self-titled). The fact is that this is just a weak album, by any standards. It covers ground that's already been covered countless times before, the musicians display little or no technical prowess, and the songs aren't even catchy. I'm no fan of Mudvayne or Nothingface, but even they are better than this - and Pantera sure as hell was. For a so-called "supergroup," Hellyeah is less than the sum of its parts.

Bottom line: if you're thinking about checking this out for Vinnie Paul, don't bother. If you're looking for a southern metal fix, don't bother. Even if you're a fan of Mudvayne, don't bother, because this is a million times worse. This album fails on every level: it's bad for what it tries to be, it's bad for what it is, and it's bad from a purely objective standpoint. I gave it five points because there are worse things out there, but there's really no reason to listen to this stuff. Pass on this one and get the Rebel Meets Rebel album instead - now THAT was southern metal done right. But Hellyeah? Hell NO!

When a band that's 80% nu-metal and 20% ex-Pantera, you can't really expect anything great. Let's face it, Damageplan was horrible nu-metal tripe and Mudvayne is just another throwaway. Combine these with a disgusting "redneck" image and you have HELLYEAH. Disregarding the awful band name and image, this album has one other flaw - the music. Yeah, its a pretty big one. There is zero inspiration, zero creativity, zero talent, and frankly zero enjoyment to be found here.

The album consists almost entirely of horribly generic "groove metal" that sounds like a middle school band attempting to cover Pantera. Theres a ballad, of course, given the masterwork of literary wordplay "Alcohaulin Ass". Immature songs like "Goddamn" show pretty clearly where the metal scene gets its bad image, with a fuck and a shit being dropped just about every other line. I guess HELLYEAH was going for the "me so angry" mood.

Half way through the album all the instruments start to blend together as each track mindlessly plods into the next. Catchy riffs, solos, or vocal lines are no where to be found here. Expect the same downtuned crap that Slipknot or KoRn might put out instead. Why this band is on this website is a mystery, let alone why they have the "Heavy Metal" genre. Listen to Iron Maiden and then listen to HELLYEAH, which one is heavy metal? Its pretty obvious.

This album is unfortunate in that there are zero redeeming factors. If you want to listen to another garbage nu-metal album then HELLYEAH is perfect for you. I cannot say that I am a Pantera fan, but Vinnie Paul essentially shits on Dimebags grave with this album. Try harder next time, guys.

What do you get when you gather a nu-metal singer, nu-metal guitarists, and a nu-metal bassist with an excellent drummer? You get shitty music with good drumming!

Unfortunately, drumming alone does not save this album from the depths of inanity. It's almost hilarious hearing Greg and Tom try to play trü heavy metal, but they always end up drifting into the realm of nü. The riffage almost entirely relies on hooks, like fishhooks to grab up the mallcore kiddies. In that respect, this does its job, and it doesn't matter how much an album sucks musically, it'll provide enjoyment for the shallow trendy kids. Hell, Matter of Time sounds like a fucking Korn cover! When Greg and Tom try to play technical, with odd time signatures, it ends up sounding like the illegitimate child of Meshuggah and Slipknot. When there's a solo, it's short and sweet, and while I love solos, not even the solos here can save this album. They are sparse, with breakdowns being more common.

Speaking of shallow, the vocals couldn't be more shallow. Chad Gray sung better in Mudvayne, and that's only after hearing a song on their Myspace. The lyrics are full of cheese, especially of the limberger variety. There is hardly any deep introspection, or calculated chaotic anger that is found in Pantera or even Damageplan. The lyrics are shallow and simplistic, probably to allow people who never heard Hellyeah sing along to the music, but that further sacrifices quality as the lyrics are hardly thought out. Whoever wrote these lyrics probably wrote down the first thing that came to mind and hardly edited a thing. They are beyond ridiculous, especially the lyrics of Alcohaulin’ Ass.

The bass just follows the groove ridden riffage of the guitars, there is hardly anything noticable about it, and since it follows the guitars, the bass sucks just as much as the guitars.

Actual songwriting is extremely standard for modern rock. Hellyeah is just another cookie cutter pop band, just with Vinnie Paul as its drummer. At some points they are trying their damn hardest to be like Pantera. Most of the time, they are trying to catch people's attention. Unfortunately, they are so mainstream oriented that every single song is boring. It doesn't grab my attention. There is nothing impressive on this album.

Except for the drumming. As I said, the drumming is by Vinnie Paul, and he's a good drummer. However, even he has done better. The drumming is fairly average, there are some interesting patterns he plays, but nothing particularly special.

By far the best song on this album is Thank You, not for the skill of playing it displays, which is still on par with the rest of the album, but for the meaning behind the song. This song goes out to Dimebag Darrel, who would've made Hellyeah fifty times better (assuming that Dimebag was still alive and that Damageplan broke up by now), and family members of Greg and Tom. However, the lyrics themselves don't specify that, so it can essentially go out to anyone the listener has in mind, a brother, a father, mother, sister, etc... It’s a good post-grunge/hard rock song, and I actually enjoy a little post-grunge and hard rock at times. The one thing really bad about this song is that a nauseating song with an appropriate song title follows it up.

The album closes with One Thing and I have often found myself asleep by now. I'm fighting the urge to fall asleep, despite it being 11 AM and after having a Red Bull. This album does absolutely nothing for me, not even the song Thank You. If you enjoy nu-metal with your thrash serving of the day, you might even like this album, but not if you are a true metalhead. Even if you are an average metalhead, such as myself, you won't hear anything new or interesting on this album. If you are even somewhat familiar with mainstream rock, you’ll just hear more of the same.

The intense hype around the formation and the release of Hellyeah's self-titled album was something else. I usually try to ignore hype for bands but even they had me excited. I enjoy some Mudvayne and Nothingface. Anything with Vinnie Paul will automatically get my attention.

As it turns out Hellyeah wasn't what I expected. Its fun but its about as deep as a child's wading pool. I was expecting something along the lines of Damageplan (which I didn't think was all that bad) but I was wrong. Hellyeah is full of heavy grooves and down tuned guitars along with massive amounts of simplistic lyrics. There is also the occasional "ballad" gracing the album for variety's sake but not much is really worth mentioning.

The guitar work is fine if you like that nu-metal inspired riffing fitted with down-tuned strings and occasional leads. I prefer my metal with lots of fret work and clean technicality. Neither of that is really present on the album. The guitar rhythms are pretty simple (sometimes catchy, sometimes not). What technical fretwork that is there is mostly lost in the grind of the guitar tone. There did happen to be a couple of solos that caught me off guard - but nothing all that impressive in the long run. It's nice to see them incorporate solos. I'd love to hear Mudvayne do a few of those in their music.

The bass work is a very prominent force on the album. Being very groove oriented in nature, the music is prime breeding waters for tasty bass work. Those do make an appearance here and there but really it feels as though the bass is just there - there isn't a lot of "character" to the bass.

The drumming is by far the best part of the album. If anything this album can stand as testament that Vinnie Paul can still play the skins like a madman. There are some very interesting parts in his drumming and some good and unique patterns present. He has good tech work along with good variety and doesn't need double basses all the time to keep up the speed of the album.

The vocal work by Chad Gray is pretty two sided. Screaming or baritone singing. He doesn't really push either side (and I'm tempted to say that his work with Mudvayne is FAR superior). His voice, although unique, doesn't really fit the music as I thought it would. He gives the band sort of a punk outlook rather than a fun metal side. The many layers his vocals take up is rather ridiculous too. It seems like the layered his voice to the point of absurdity rather than going with the more fitting "raw" feel that this album could have had.

Lyrically, this album is down right silly. There are a couple of interesting reflective tracks (Thank You sticks out) but overall the childish use of cursing and "lets kick ass and have a beer" mentality really dive this album down. I'm all for having fun music and I'm sure this album is great to have on during a party but if one is looking for music with any sort of depth - look elsewhere.

I suppose if this is the music the band was shooting for then they nailed it on the head. Great party music to have on in the background while one gets hammered. For me though, I'll stick with music that's a bit more complicated and diverse.

Songs to check out: Hellyeah, Matter of Time, One Thing.

I never even realized that these guys had a page on this site. This band is less metal than Godsmack. Perhaps the optimist inside you will try to convince yourself that maybe the musicians were all limited by their respective bands and "Hellyeah!" is their outlet for the true fucking metal that has been building up inside them for all this time.

Well, it's not. In fact, it's exactly what you would expect given the members' past histories. Nothingface and Mudvayne? Is this the best Vinnie Paul could do? Perhaps the bills needed paying and so he decided this would be the easiest way to sell big (they did, the album debuted at #9 on the US charts). The riffs are beyond stale, not a single one that I would call memorable. The guitar tone makes the aforementioned Godsmack seem like the heaviest band in the world. Most of the songs have a predictable and boring breakdown in the middle, and the rest of the song is a failed attempt at groove. Groove and amazing breakdowns aren't staples of the mallcore genres as some seem to believe. See Anthrax, Overkill, or early some Metallica for how breakdowns and groove should be done. These songs would fit perfectly in the "Metal by Numbers" comedy song by Brian Posehn, because these songs all follow the same formula. It sickens me that people can get away with such assembly-line songwriting. And the vocals...they're the worst part on here! Are these supposed to be tough? Sully Erna could take this guy and have sex with his girlfriend at the same time.

The only positive aspect is the drums. And positive isn't even the right word. Let me rephrase that, the only part of the album that isn't dogshit is the drums. Vinnie Paul actually pulls off some decent work considering what little he has to work with. But this is his project so it's not like this is anything surprising.

You've probably noticed the comparisons to Godsmack. I'm not saying that Godsmack is anything amazing that bands should model themselves after, but when compared to this shit, mediocrity becomes the sublime. Please, in honor of Dimebag, download this album illegally then burn copies for all your friends.

Firstly, let me say I have no fucking idea why these guys were accepted on the archive. To call them 'Heavy Metal' would be an insult to everything the genre stands for, as this is pure mallcore for the kiddies to wank over. This so called 'supergroup' is comprised of two members from Mudvayne, one from Nothingface and one from Damageplan. The only member of this band which has at least some relation to metal is Vinnie Paul, and it seems as if he has become the only reason this group has been noticed and called 'metal' by some.

With one guitarist from a nu band and the other from an alternative band, you can imagine what the so called 'riffs' sound like. I remember reading an interview in which Vinnie claimed they were trying to bring "that kickass groove back", and while there is groove here and plenty of it, in order for any respectable person to call it kickass said person must be smoking some seriously good stuff. What the riffing sounds like is something which your average nu band of the day would be putting out. Really, if you've heard KoRn or something similar, you'll know what this sounds like. Riffs that could in some cases be played by a guitarist who has been playing less than a year feature here in large quantities, and while they will occasionally get some sort of alright groove going they proceed to fuck it up with yet another nu metal riff.

What makes this worse is the guitar tone. It is tuned ridiculously low. While this isn't a bad thing in itself seeing as many respectable Death Metal bands downtune, the production cuts off any balls it may have previously held by making the guitar sound muffled and lifeless. The songwriting is through the motions verse chorus stuff. When they try to be really heavy it turns out laughable (see the chorus of the title track) and they even employ that 'soft verse, loud chorus' shit which was used by the grunge movement. Then there are the half ballads which start off soft but get 'heavy' (I hesitate to use the word in this context) which are supposed to sound brooding or something like that but are plain pathetic. And lets not forget the lyrics either. They are supposed to convey having a 'who gives a fuck' attitude but sound laughable and stupid. And it is repetitive as well. All the songs blend into a massive wad of dog shit due to the same sounding riffs and the monotone vocalist.

As said before, the main reason this band was noticed was because Vinnie is in it, and really, he sounds like every other drummer out there. He normally just plays basic beats with some double kick thrown in here and there. The vocalist uses both raspy yells and whiny singing, while the guitarists can't write a good riff for shit, and even the soloing is standard.

So yeah, there is virtually no reason to get this. There can be a somewhat average riff that will pop up once every three songs or so, but apart from that this is a complete throwaway. It isn't even halfway through the year, but I predict that this will end up as one of the worst albums of 2007 easily. It was a waste of bandwidth (as if I would pay for this shit) and furthermore a waste of my time listening to this, and even if you can find it dirt cheap stay away from it.