Black Midi
's early performance videos introduced the group as an absurdly talented bunch of music academy students overflowing with ideas, so it's no surprise that their sound has evolved so quickly. While their 2019 debut,
Schlagenheim
, was an overloaded, volatile mixture of post-punk and math rock, somewhat resembling a no wave band who grew up watching too much
Ren & Stimpy
, 2021's
Cavalcade
found the group exploring a lushly orchestrated avant-prog sound, switching between spiky, angular workouts and softer, more patient compositions.
Hellfire
moves further in this direction, but with a greater sense of showmanship. Lead vocalist
Geordie Greep
sounds more like a delirious carnival barker than before, and the music brings to mind
Mr. Bungle
and
Fred Frith
more so than the
King Crimson
-isms of
's past work. "Sugar/Tzu" even opens with a wrestling match-style announcement ("Let's see some thunder!") before launching into a dizzying riff, detouring into a few lighter passages but smashing back to ecstatic horn blasts and furious drumming. The mainly acoustic first half of "Eat Men Eat" is intimate yet energetic, and the song escalates into vengeful shrieking. "Welcome to Hell" highlights
Greep
's manic storytelling, beginning with a stately pop/rock beat and proceeding toward a thrashy, off-the-rails climax. "Still" starts out with gentle steel guitar, suggesting an attempt to write a country song, yet it gets divebombed with noise halfway through, before faintly drifting to the end. Seven-minute centerpiece "The Race Is About to Begin" impressively segues between frenetic, breathless ranting and starry crooning, and this sort of avant-lounge vibe continues throughout the remainder of the album. By the end of "27 Questions," you suspect that the band is in the process of writing a musical, or at the very least, the idea has crossed their minds. ~ Paul Simpson