Brian, Hell Bent’s drummer (he’s also the o.g. drummer for Dropdead, you fucking assholes) explains that after Neon Bitches, another band he played in with Hell Bent’s guitarists John and Shawn, “kind of sputtered out” he found himself looking for “something more metal.”

“We talked about it and then just started doing it,” Brian says. “We all listen to metal and it was easy to throw in some ‘Slayer beats’ in the new songs we were working on. It was also easy for me to work in some Celtic Frost-inspired beats in the songs, too. We still have Swedish ‘d-beat’ sort of stuff in there a bit like the last two bands I was in with the guys.”

For musicians like Brian, John, Shawn, and vocalist Badger, whose scathing imperatives you may recognize from the Agoraphobic Nosebleed side of their split with Cattle Press, it’s “easy” for them to throw a ‘Slayer beat’ here, or a Celtic Frost section there because they’ve all played in so many different bands. But Hell Bent represents something like a boiling point for all their activity hitherto forming this deadly outfit.

“Before I did Neon Bitches with these guys, the band I did was essentially Black/Doom, so doing those genres when it came to writing songs again wasn’t what I wanted to focus on,” Hell Bent’s guitarist Shawn admits. “For me personally Hell Bent is a ‘crossover’ of metal/hardcore/punk sub genres of music which I grew up with and still am passionate about today.”

The lyrics, according to Badger, represent: “A challenge to the unnatural and destructive concept of dualism that both Christianity and Islam promote. Reality is far more nuanced than good/evil, light/dark, salvation/damnation, and the fact that almost the entire cultural narrative worldwide is defined by these simplistic concepts that these two religions propagate leaves me with little hope for the future of ‘civilization.’”

Track Listing: 
01. Welcome To The Dirt
02. Oppression.Enslavement.Coercion
03. Ichthyosis
04. Pandemic
05. Cerberus Unbound
06. The Season Begins
07. Prey For War
08. The Scythian Horde
09. Sledgehammer / Hell Bent