Black Midi – Hellfire NM/NM

Black Midi’s Hellfire is a blistering, hyper‑theatrical plunge into avant‑rock chaos, delivered with the band’s trademark precision and manic flair. It’s their densest, most breathless record: a barrage of jagged riffs, spasmodic rhythms, and cabaret‑like vocal performances that feel halfway between a fever dream and a deranged stage musical. The pacing is relentless—songs erupt, mutate, and collapse into new shapes with almost cartoonish velocity—yet beneath the frenzy lies meticulous arrangement and razor‑sharp musicianship.

Lyrically, Hellfire sketches a grotesque, darkly comic world of gamblers, soldiers, sinners, and doomed protagonists, all narrated with sardonic bite. The production is crisp and theatrical, giving every horn stab, guitar spasm, and drum fill a vivid, almost cinematic presence. It’s an album that weaponises excess: abrasive, virtuosic, and wildly imaginative, pushing Black Midi’s fusion of math‑rock, jazz, prog, and absurdist storytelling to its most explosive extreme.