Hell's Rock & Roll

Man, the wiggling guitar strings, the crash of the drums, this thing keeps on a-rockin' until the morning comes! You know, I don't even think I'm much of a Countess fan outside of this release. Their drum-machine heavy screamy, screamy black metal - while fine and dandy - never held my attention much. Orlock's vocals are, of course, fantastic but it's here where they really came alive for me.

So, what's the difference? Hitherto bedroom dwelling on this release - and perhaps only this release - Countess became a black metal high school band. Determined to rock the canteens/stages of Leiden, Orlock hired a guitarist who sounds like a slightly inept Ace Frehley and a drummer who, incredibly, sounds like Les Binks! The title-track is, of course, a celebratory anthem of black metal's rockin' roots at a time when the genre was fast moving away from them. Its main riff actually does sound like something the MC5 would play and, musically, well, you know the devil always had the best tunes, right? Orlock's howling is just so effective; he veers between goofy ('it made him smile!') and malevolent to brilliant effect. It's like Alice Cooper as a black metal vocalist. The main riff, too, is noteworthy in its goofy brilliance; KISS and the MC5 smile down while Vim Fuego wonders whether he actually had a hand in penning it.

I think it's a genuine shame that they only did one song in this style. Even if I'm left with a "what could have been?" question dangling over my head whenever I listen to this EP the other material is style some of the strongest Countess have ever penned. 'Son of the Dragon' keeps some of the anthemic nature of the title-track and, yet, moves us back into more familiar black metal realm. I don't think there is a bad song about Vlad Țepeș - I recently learnt how to say that surname correctly, too - but this one is just stellar. Again, the rockisms of this EP rear their head slightly in the chorus, which still might have a little of that KISS "Shout it Out Loud" quality to it. Elsewhere, it rides a brilliantly twisty, turning main riff.

The sound, too, is most appropriate for the style. It sounds very big and loud; as if they were a NWOBHM act getting up on a big stage with their Marshalls cranked and just letting rip (albeit in a shaky amauterish way).

'Dokkum 747' (Don?) doesn't meet the same standard as the previous two numbers but it works well enough. Again, my impression here is that Countess' true calling was to make dunderheaded Manowar-esque black metal and not worship so heavily at the altar of Bathory (not that this is a bad thing, it's just that other bands happen to be far superior at it). Still, this EP works brilliantly. Great stuff. If the keyboard-heavy, blast-beating, frilly-shirted and po-faced antics of late 90s black metal leave you cold you might well have an excellent time here.

Bonus points for the pool room band photo! Black funky metal!

This is a quirky little piece of work from Countess we have here.
It is the only studio recording featuring a full band that is available to the masses.
Since this is only a four track piece we'll just do a track-by-track breakdown.

First we have the highlight of the album, and that is the title track "Hell's Rock & Roll", the song starts off with some nice guitarwork (courtesy of Zagan) and then lunges into a very rock&roll'ish beat. Furthermore we have the standard Orlok vocals and his trademark bass work and finally we have Warhead on some very supressed drums. The drums pack no real punch, that however is a good thing as it brings much clarity to the drumwork and there are a few tasty fills here and there.
The star of the song is Zagan though, the guitarwork is just plain amazing.

Next we have "Son of the Dragon", and again we start off with a tasty lead guitar, this song is more standard Countess though as it is a tad faster and the drums are somewhat more pronounced. A very solid song, and again some really tasty guitar work.

Moving right along we get to "Dokkum 754" and this is pure Countess, slow and brooding just as we are used to.
I should probably mention for good measure that the first two songs are written by Zagan and Zagan/Orlok respectively, which is why they contain lead guitars to the extent that they do.

The closing track on this disc is a live rendition of "On the Wings of Azazel" recorded November 2nd 1996 in Schiedam, the sound quality isn't exactly cause for celebration but you can hear the various instruments clearly and the only gripe I have is that Orloks vocals are very subdued.
A point of interest is that rythm-guitar on this track is played by Othalaz.

And thus have we come to an end.
I really think that adding an actual guitar player does alot for Countess (also witnessed on Revenge of the Horned One pt1&2 where Zagan makes a full-time appearance), he makes the songs appear alive and it never hurt to have a few tasty licks in a song.

In short, if you can find it buy it. It's that easy.