Allhelluja is an Italian band that features Jacob Bredahl from Hatesphere on vocals. Last year they released their debut album Inferno Museum. This year they offer us their second outing Pain Is The Game, so let’s see if the game is good.

Allhelluja got a bit of a head start by having Jacob in their ranks, so I wondered if they really had enough potential to go places, and equally interesting what would Jacob do with a stoner orientated band. The result surfaces somewhere in the area of  bands like Kyuss, Down, Unsane and Entombed, which stands for a heavy rock sound that is really pushing the stoner edge. Distorted, raw, energetic, but still with that relaxing atmosphere here and there.

 

Jacob treats the listener to some interesting classical raw rock singing, some raw screams and even a little grunt here and there. He doesn’t pull everything off perfectly but he sure can make his voice fit the music, with more than enough enthusiasm and variation.

 

The only real problem I have is that some parts of the music have been done so many times, not all the songs (or parts of them) grab you by the balls and make you feel really into it. There are some good tunes on Pain Is The Game, but it takes a listen or three to really discover where the real fun is going on. And I think that’s a bit of a pity, because there are so many other stoner bands that achieve just that little extra that this one just misses. Ah well, maybe next time they’ll hit that spot. This one does have a nice production to it, and for fans of the bands mentioned above it will sure be worth checking out some time.