 
Here we go once again, another super group album
release for 2012 but the difference is that with
this one, there are preceding albums to go on;
this will be Hellyeah’s 3rd full studio
album in their 6 year career, the self titled
Hellyeah being released in 2007, follow up Stampede
released in 2010 and finally here we are with
Band of Brothers in 2012. These guys are a combination
of Pantera, Damageplan, Nothingface and Mudvayne
all of which are considered respected legendary
acts in the world of metal, their little “super”
project already have some pretty impressive songs
under their belt but as albums on the whole, they
have only been alright with some cool songs on
it.
Opener “War in Me” to me just seems
to have too many similarities to and may as well
be a Mudvayne track from how it sounds at the
start, in fact no throughout the entire song it
just seems like a slightly grittier version of
a Mudvayne track, particularly “Not Falling”
and “Internal Primates Forever”. With
music sometimes you get the smooth feeling where
every element gels together perfectly and you
can actually feel it, but at the same time sometimes
they just feel like everything is being forced
together as it doesn’t really go together,
that’s what the title track “Band
of Brothers” feels like, mostly like they’ve
forced those lyrics and vocals into the song.
“Drink Drank Drunk” is more like what
I wanted to hear, it flows through gritty and
aggressive, just not as aggressive as material
I was expecting but it’s a step in the right
direction.
Song’s they do that are soft are always
extremely light in comparison to the majority
of their material, their southern style on heavy
stuff is overwhelmed by the distortion that a
song like “Between You and Nowhere”
almost feels like a completely different band
due to its subtle tones. Chad Gray from what I’ve
seen live cannot bring it live but with Mudvayne
he’s always been extremely impressive in
my opinion, his work with Hellyeah isn’t
quite as good but still decent work, lyrics may
be a bit too cheesy and lower down the intellectual
scale than his work with Mudvayne but that’s
kind of the point. The heavier stuff is like Damageplan,
Pantera and Mudvayne at war with each other trying
to push themselves to the surface of the sound,
the resultant end product has changed over the
years and evidentially with this release Mudvayne
has definitely made a break for the surface.
Overall though I can say that I’ve enjoyed
it as I have every other album; some truly amazing
songs I’ve enjoyed listening to, and others
that I wouldn’t think to listen to off the
top of my head as they’ve not really made
a lasting impression up in here. I’d say
this is great for a few listens more for the nostalgia
of the greats that are now defunct or past their
best days but after that I wouldn’t say
it’ll be your favourite album of the year.
3/5
Review by James Webb
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