Alkaline Trio – Hell Yes
by Cory on Oct.08, 2009, under Punk
I don’t have any emperical evidence, but I think it’s safe to say that most bands that write songs about the devil fall on the heavy/loud end of the musical spectrum. While it’s true that there are some Christian death metal acts, trends seem to show that the heavier a genre is, the more likely that themes of the Satanic or Demonic become more prevalent. At the end of the day, it is this fact more than any other that leads me to listening to more Christian bands than Satanic bands. I don’t really fall on either side of the ideological debate, so at the end of the day my concern is whether or not I find the music to be pleasurable to my ears.
Now, this song has its tongue placed firmly in its cheek, but still I find myself liking the idea of a song written about Satan that is as sugary sweet as anything MXPX might happen to throw out. Matt Skiba is/was a card carrying member of the Church of Satan, which is pretty laughable but I imagine makes for a fun parlor trick to freak out people who spent too much of their youth sheltered from the world. This track is pretty much the best thing to come out of it, because really, the world needs more love songs for the dark lord that don’t involve 5 minutes of double bass with gibberish being screamed over the top. That’s not to say that there isn’t a place for music recorded in coffins, I’m just saying that place isn’t typically going to be my headphones.
Of note is Skiba’s vocals and the way he enunciates some of the words, particularly his “Hell yes” at the end of the first chorus.
Alkaline Trio – Hell Yes
