HellYeah's Family Violence Story Hits Bone Bracingly

Hearing the lighter side guitar early on in HellYeah's "Hush" prickly heats are a foregone conclusion. They've got you pinned down in hairs on back of neck crawling territory. Then up jumps the intensity although much of this gets egged on by lead singer Chad Gray, taking time out from his gig in Mudvayne to throw discordant colors on a family violence scene. Chad gets inside what many an abused child faces. The belt beatings, the insulting names, etc...Home sweet home doesn't exist for these agonizing souls. Tom Maxwell, jumping over from Nothingface knows which chords to seize upon. That's the reason why you end up on the business end of empathy mixed with revulsion. The riffs dig deep, strike an unavoidable nerve, and fully deserve the righteous agony they provoke. The highest wattage party in this supergroup has to be Vinnie Paul who metal enthusiasts are bound to recognize from his time in Pantera or, if no bells ring there his role in DamagePlan, the act which featured the late, great, deeply missed Dimebag Darrell. "Hush" doesn't give Vinnie much room to flex his considerable muscle. Not that there should be anything to fret about anyway. The music's message is unflinching enough. As the video illustrates family violence creates schisms down to the marrow. Chad's facial expressions convey all you need to know plus a little something extra. The very first admission speaks to a child who just wants his folks to stop fighting, for the free flowing abuse to come to end. Praying for quiet may not work but the motivation never fades from the foreground. The kids with alcoholic dads likely know beer breath backwards and forwards. At the chorus end Chad spells out that for abused children Hell is where they were born and are being raised. Eventually the kids can't trust affection so they push it away. How could you not give way to outrage at the lyric: "Whipped so bad I pissed myself." That's nothing to sneeze at. HellYeah doesn't go speed metal which serves this song's cautionary sentiments well. Many kids are not treated with the tenderness warranted to them. As a result they risk becoming callous cruel adults. The speed level falls into steady, not glacial but no less effective for along the words like bile to bubble up to the tip of your tongue as well as the band's. Even if action on their behalf can't be taken there's always that wellspring of compassion one can draw from. HellYeah does Dallas the city and Texas the state proud by not shying away from a topic high on the list of uncomfortable topics. That HellYeah succeeds at jimmying no small level of melody into their handiwork signals an added, much appreciated bonus. Dimebag's smiling from heaven because these men keep their edge wherever their artistic leanings take them. Bass player Kyle Sanders gives off any leftover electricity "Hush" the single hasn't. "Hush" doesn't apply a silencer to the contemptible family violence realm. That's socially commendable and undeniably metal.