Music Reviews: The Hellfish - "Laughing With The Sinners"

The Hellfish are a quartet from Malverne, New York who play a mix of garage rock, punk and power pop splashed with catchy hooks and riffs. The bands latest album "Laughing With The Sinners" is a fun album made for good times. And with summer right around the corner it's all about good times and good tunes. So this will be getting plenty of play on my stereo this summer.

Kicking off with "On The Radio" the band, Nick B. (rhythm guitar/vocals), Lou Fiore (lead guitar), Liam Ledwith (bass) and Matt Lynch (drums), show what they're made of layering this single with harmonies and killer guitar riffs. And the rest of the album is pretty much the same musically. "Painkiller" "First Impression" and "Stuck On You" are straight up rockers that get the blood pumping. There's nothing wrong with good old catchy rock n roll music. And The Hellfish have mad amounts of it to share with the world. This album is definitely a guilty pleasure album with it's slick production and riffs for miles.

"Shake Up The Night" and "Stay Awake" are true 80's inspired power pop gems. The band must have listened to huge amounts of new wave and power pop growing up and it's obvious in the style of playing and songwriting. I really like this record. It fits in well with The Knack, Cheap Trick and all the other great bands of yesteryear. If this band keeps writing catchy tunes like these I think they'll be a big deal in the underground scene. Let's face it, they'll never get much radio airplay considering the radio is covered in horseshit music. But that's okay. If rock radio ever does rear it's not so ugly head, The Hellfish will be right here waiting to get some much deserved airplay.

4 / 5 stars.