You’re on a rural two lane highway. In front and behind, the only two things you know for certain weigh on the horizon just out of site, where you are going and where you came from. Just below your visor, the sky creates shades and shapes you swear you saw in a painting; and the only thing that can take your eyes from it is the way the sinking sun paints its colour across the rural hills before you. Leaving an easy life, some might call mundane, it had been your life for every minute you weren’t too stoned to live it. With it now all but erased, not shy to admit to being a little bit scared about the future, it’ll take hell before you cry about it.
The road, bathed in dusk’s pinks and purples, politely asks that you make those effortless tilts of the wheel to follow its shallow lazy curves. You oblige as it guilds you around the elderly oaks littered just to the greener side of the guardrails.
Where will this night take you? Where will the morning find you?
The mood of Little Hell, the third solo LP released by Alexisonfire’s Dallas Green, is rolling and crisp. As he gets ever more electric with each of his releases, this album covers rich layers of instrumentation with the reverb touched blanket of Dallas’ vocals.
Far and away from his debut LP Sometimes, Little Hell brings a full band along through its duration. Where I do appreciate his ability to hold an entire record up with little more than a single guitar and vocal track, this record demonstrates a different range of his energy and writing strength.
After listening several times though, Little Hell keeps listeners interested in every track. Not wanting to skip over any of Dallas' foolishly clever lyrics, as much as you want to replay each song as soon as it finishes, you can't help but keep your hands off the stereo in anticipation of the tracks that follow.
The weakest point on this album may be its first single, “Fragile Bird.” While a solid track on its own, it doesn’t meld together with what surrounds it. On the overall soothing, flowing ride this album takes you on, "Fragile Bird” enters and exits jarringly. Again, as a stand alone song, it is not in any way poor. Rather, it doesn’t seem to belong where it sits on Little Hell.
A driving mood is kept through the Little Hell’s entirety only to let you down softly with "Silver and Gold." “Hope for Now” was a bit of a disappointing way to end, however. Beginning with only Dallas’ voice and a piano, you drift off in the song. Midway through a complete band joins in, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, however the song ends with a fade out. Come on! The fade out is the weakest way to end a song let alone an entire record. How about a return back to the solo piano?
All in all, if you enjoyed Bring Me Your Love, you will enjoy Little Hell. If you are still upset that City and Colour grew to be more than just solo acoustic doodling, then you’ve probably also got a picture of Chris Carrabba under your bed with a red “X” through his face ever since you heard “Hands Down” off of A Mark, a Mission, a Brand, a Scar.
Get over it. BUY THIS RECORD
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