Hungarian punk metal mob The Hellfreaks announced their brand new album ‘Pitch Black Sunset,’ their debut on Napalm Records, which will be out on April 14, 2023. In addition, the band shared their new single ‘Hit Me Where It Hurts.’
With their fifth album, ‘Pitch Black Sunset,’ the rising band waves the flag of a new generation of metal and punk. The Hellfreaks kick off with vocalist Zsuzsa “Shakey Sue” Radnóti’s trademark sing-along-screams, as ‘Old Tomorrows’ raises the pulse with fast-paced punk mixed with groovy metal beats.
Like the story of Jekyll and Hyde, the upstarts unveil their angry side on ‘Hit Me Where It Hurts,’ led by electronic rock as distorted, rhythmic guitar lines set the pace with catchy metalcore beats. The effortless force of singer Sue resembles an earthquake, with her raspy punk vocal attack. Followed by the restless track ‘Chaos,’ boisterous thrash lines meet pop-punk-infused metal before closing with a Tom Morello-worthy solo.
The Hellfreaks stay true to themselves yet never become stagnant or pretentious – as tracks like ‘Weeping Willow’ are driven by more modern metal interpretations and electronic interludes. With its fragile clean vocals and the eerie sounds of the guitar’s strings, the atmosphere of the song changes throughout before taking an unexpected turn into a hard-hitting core-hymn. ‘Body Bag’ offers a total contrast – surfacing like a message in a bottle with an in-your-face, straight forward 2000s skate punk vibe that fans of the genre have always wished for.
The Hellfreaks showcases the individual musical expertise of its members when chunky riffs merge with strong beats and highly aggressive shouts, while bittersweet vocal lines call out for a feelgood song. Performing in almost every European country and gaining more awareness via their American tour in 2015, the well-experienced band from Budapest proves with ‘Pitch Black Sunset’ that they are more than ready to kickstart their next chapter!
‘Pitch Black Sunset’ tracklist:
1. Sunrise
2. Old Tomorrows
3. Hit Me Where It Hurts
4. Chaos
5. Weeping Willow
6. Body Bag
7. Rootless Soul Riot
8. PBSS
9. Sunset
About the album itself, the band shares: “Since our last album, our world around us has turned much darker than what we ever expected. Covid, war, inflation. Enough reasons for introspection to find out if there is any light left in us. An excursion between the best and worst parts in us.”
They continue: “‘Pitch Black Sunset’ is about how these contraries interfere with each other: the past and the future, peace, and chaos, eastern and western, life and death. This album invites you to a car ride straight into the canyon between these opposites. Does it end in a car crash? Sometimes. But we found beauty in it.”
About the new single ‘Hit Me Where It Hurts,’ the band states: “’Hit Me Where It Hurts’ is about hope and despair. Hope is able to move mountains. But what if the desired dream stays a dream? Then hope turns to prison. Intoxicated by a desire that never comes true, we reach the dead end, where the brain clearly sees the way out, but our heart won’t let us make the necessary steps. All that’s left is suffering. This song is an invocation for the metaphorical punch to eliminate the last piece of false hope, the real culprit in such a situation.”