Albums to watch

Hellfire

Black Midi

Hellfire

Third full-length album from the experimental rock band produced by Marta Salogni (Björk, Django Django, MIA)

ADM rating[?]

8.2

Label
Rough Trade
UK Release date
15/07/2022
US Release date
15/07/2022
  1. 10.0 |   Record Collector

    Their third album is a larger-than- life declaration of intent, as indefatigable and audacious as Muhammed Ali at times. Print edition only

  2. 9.0 |   Loud And Quiet

    Bewildering and brilliant
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  3. 9.0 |   Exclaim

    It takes immense skill to know what to keep while being one step ahead of the modern musical landscape, and Hellfire accomplishes both
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  4. 9.0 |   The Line Of Best Fit

    Though many of the band's distinct hallmarks show face – heavier than ever, even – somehow their latest record sounds miraculously and hideously new, proving their aversion to any mindless repetition
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  5. 9.0 |   Spectrum Culture

    The London trio creates and solves their own puzzle by weaving intriguing and imaginative narratives
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  6. 9.0 |   God Is In The TV

    Ultimately, Black Midi make music for themselves and don’t give a shit what the critics think about it
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  7. 8.7 |   Beats Per Minute

    Hellfire is deeply British music! Similarly to David Bowie’s Outside, it reconfigures American genre aesthetics into the apocalyptic context of the class-based structure of the United Kingdom
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  8. 8.6 |   Paste Magazine

    The London band’s third album is a grotesque carnival of human misery that you’ll never want to turn away from
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  9. 8.5 |   Northern Transmissions

    Many of Black Midi’s old songs are like endurance exercises, but trimming the fat to pull stronger focus has helped the band execute a stronger concept, resulting in Black Midi’s most consistent, fully realized, adventurous, and even daring effort yet
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  10. 8.0 |   The Irish Times

    It may not be good for your blood pressure, but this is an extraordinarily compelling album
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  11. 8.0 |   Slant Magazine

    The album engages with rock’s history while simultaneously taking it in imaginative new directions
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  12. 8.0 |   The Arts Desk

    No-one could accuse Black Midi of landing on a style and sticking with it
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  13. 8.0 |   Gigwise

    Their most theatrical yet
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  14. 8.0 |   NME

    Building on the dynamic intensity of 2021's ‘Cavalcade’, the UK trio's third album further expands their intrepid musical universe
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  15. 8.0 |   DIY

    Halfway between unhinged madness and art rock precision
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  16. 8.0 |   Uncut

    They’ve managed to make tonal inconsistencies feel like an actual consistency, rather than being a jarring and detracting experience. They’ve wrangled chaos into submission, and currently sound like no other band out there. Print edition only

  17. 8.0 |   Mojo

    Hellfire, for all its sporadic intensity, is less harsh than previous Black Midi records. Print edition only

  18. 8.0 |   The FT

    The Londoners’ twisty, noisy songs were at once unruly and technically precise at this hometown gig
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  19. 8.0 |   The Observer

    The Londoners freely cram genres and ideas into their concept album about death
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  20. 8.0 |   Clash

    ‘Hellfire’ is at once goofy and high brow. A volcanic eruption of serious silliness
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  21. 8.0 |   musicOMH

    Third album from London trio adds another gem to the crown of a band who are fast becoming one of the very best of their era
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  22. 8.0 |   PopMatters

    With their third LP Hellfire, Black Midi continue to put out adventurous and challenging music that keeps listeners on the tips of their toes
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  23. 8.0 |   Crack

    Hellfire is absurd, self-indulgent, restless, ambitious and brutal. But it never feels forced
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  24. 7.8 |   Pitchfork

    The preposterously talented English band’s third record is pitched between clinical precision and crazed abandon
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  25. 6.6 |   Sputnik Music (staff)

    I doubt that Hellfire will have much staying power: for the palatability it draws from its pulp aesthetics, it also inherits that medium’s disposition for binge-no-repeat consumption. It’s shallow and fleeting and momentarily gripping - and then it’s over
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  26. 6.0 |   The Guardian

    From cocktail-lounge piano to thrashing drums, the British prog band make musical handbrake turns that are thrilling but hard to love
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