Search - Hellacopters :: Supershitty to the Max

Rockin' Out Just For the Fun of Rockin' Out!

doomsdayer520 | Pennsylvania | 06/04/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm a recent Hellacopters addict who has amassed all of their proper albums in a pretty short time period. I also got them all out of order, coming to this first album as my last purchase. Hence I have tried to figure out in an offbeat way how each Copters album relates to the next, as they are all quite different from each other. In this frantic debut there is but a small indication of the bluesy groove-rockers that the Copters would eventually become. This album shows a band that is rocking out to such ridiculous proportions that you fear for both their safety and your own. Here Nicke Andersson, a Swedish guy with a vast knowledge of American rock who was becoming a hugely prolific songwriter, teams with frantic punk lead guitarist Dregen to deliver a slab of ultra-fast nitro-fueled Swede rock that is more American than any rock delivered by actual Americans in a long time. (Note: Dregen is now back with his fulltime band Backyard Babies, another band that delivers slamming American Swede rock). At this point the Copters were more of a side project that rocked out for the fun of it, and did it to the extreme with the earnestness of true punks. The centerpieces of the album are "Born Broke" and "(Gotta Get Some Action) Now!" which deliver full blast RAWK with no apologies. To give a taste of this album's properties, four songs are so frantic they clock in at less than two minutes, while "Tab" gives you five-plus minutes of brooding grunge, and the six-minute finale "Spock in My Rocket" dissolves into feedback anarchy. But lest you think this album is just free-for-all punk chaos, the Copters' real frame of reference is the solid blues-oriented Detroit rock of their heroes the Stooges and MC5.Back to the subject of the Hellacopters' long-term and expansive evolution, in this album they are basically intelligent punks rockin' out for the sake of rockin' out. The next album, *Payin' the Dues* (my fave) solidifies the Detroit rock influence and adds some metallic structure for a stone masterpiece of crushing rock. Then on *Grande Rock* Nicke added more blues and garage elements to the Copters sound to create a rather weak (relatively) transitional album. Finally their most recent album, *High Visibility* really delivers the blues and boogie, and is a laidback tour de force of solid musicianship that is a very far cry from this here debut album. But if you like one of them you are bound to like them all, as Nicke is a brilliant all-around songwriter, and the Hellacopters are flawless in their execution, regardless of the type of material they're tackling. Beware, you may soon be an addict like me."

YEAH!!! RESPECT THE ROCK!!!

Ken | Youngsville, LA USA | 05/11/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Nicke left the Swedish death metal institution Entombed to start a garage rock-n-roll band sometime in the late 90's, and since that point, his band The Hellacopters has seemingly released a ton of stuff. Admittedly, I haven't heard their entire discography, but I do know that nothing they ever put out was ever as raw and unbridled as this. Crank up "(Gotta Get Some Action) Now!", "24 Hour Hell" and "Born Broke", "Bore Me", and "Fake Baby" as loud as you can. Then, while you're at it, pretend that KISS forgot how to be pretentious, and actually spent their money on punk records instead of make-up in 1977, only to find that they just had enough cash left over to record this puppy in a suburban garage. Get the picture? Suffice it to say that this is rock and roll, baby! And someone finally had the fortitude to make rock-n-roll dangerous again. Fans of Iggy & the Stooges, MC5, and the Dead Boys will surely find themselves totally worshipping this release. Take that as a personal testimony because I'm a gigantic fan of those bands myself, and those comparisons won't steer you wrong... promise!! For about a two month period, this disk never collected any dust, because it was spinning in my player for hours on end - every single day. To this day it always stays within a couple of feet of whatever CD player I'm using that day. Jeez, I have a really hard time describing this album without using expletives!! Heck, I just can't get enough of it... leave it at that. Respect the rock, man."

Super-Charged Sludge!!!!

Michael Gerstbrein | Iowa City, IA United States | 07/13/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Flat-out, high-energy, no-holds-barred, no-quarter-given, balls-to-the-wall, dirty and dangerous rock and roll, the way it's SUPPOSED to be! Fans of MC5, Motorhead and early Kiss won't want to miss this one! The boys blast off with the mission statement "(Gotta Get Some Action) Now!" and its full-throtte from start to finish, nearly an hour of overdrive and attitude that will leave you battered but begging for more! Long live The Hellacopters!!!"