by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
Hellrazor are back and they are causing a damn commotion. Its been three years since the band released the exceptional Satan Smile, and while we wait for the yet to-be-announced full length follow up, the New Haven trio are sharing a new single, “Landscaper,” out now via New Professor Music (Rosie Tucker, Ramonda Hammer, Cheekface). Much has changed in the time since their last album, in both the worldly sense, but more specifically within the band, who are now joined by bassist Kate Meizner (Potty Mouth, Snail Mail) and re-joined by drummer Michael Henss after sometime away from the fold. Band mastermind Michael Falcone (also of Speedy Ortiz) continues to prove his ability to write impeccable earworms and then bury them under a dirgy wall of distortion and crowd pleaser riffs.
“Landscraper” is Hellrazor doing what they do with grace and disdain, the pairing of ugly and catchy ringing out in the anthemic melodies and colossal low-end drag. The single’s music video, directed by Steve Marucci, pays homage to wrestling faction nWo, embodied by Hellrazor, better known as “The Shit.” The trio have come to fuck shit up, and no one is safe as they crash the party on a Stove music video, The Bachelor, and Room Raiders (that old chestnut of a show). As the band swing chairs in the face of the decency, simultaneously shred blistering solos and lottery scratch offs, and cause general good natured chaos, it’s all just another day in the life of the Zima swigging hoodlums. It’s all the fun you can hope for from a music video, and we’re sure there’s much more Hellrazor to come.