Bobaflex: Hell In My Heart

Booze-lovin’ Southern rockers fail to go the distance

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It must be fun in West Virginia, all whiskey-drinking and heavy petting while a groin-thrusting band plays on the jukebox and a clan of bikers pick a fight. Well, that’s the vibe Bobaflex give.

Playing from the book of Monster Magnet and Avenged Sevenfold, these guyliner-clad rapscallions have enough verve to get you in the mood for hedonism.

Vampire, about a bloodsucking femme fatale, is a choice cut that throws them into the echelons of Papa Roach, with a surprise bit of rhythmic bass that harks back to 70s funk. Same goes for Bury Me With My Guns (everyone loves a collective ‘Heeeey!’) and the hyperactive Chemical Valley. You can’t blame a band for chucking their best songs at the front of an album, but with 15 tracks plus a bonus live CD it means the rest is borderline disposable.

It’s not all lost; Bobaflex have been treading the boards for long enough (since ’99, man) that they know how to play to get chicks, but ending with a cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s Sound Of Silence is kind of a cheap shot. But maybe that’s how they get those chicks’ parents to approve?

Holly Wright

With over 10 years’ experience writing for Metal Hammer and Prog, Holly has reviewed and interviewed a wealth of progressively-inclined noise mongers from around the world. A fearless voyager to the far sides of metal Holly loves nothing more than to check out London’s gig scene, from power to folk and a lot in between. When she’s not rocking out Holly enjoys being a mum to her daughter Violet and working as a high-flying marketer in the Big Smoke.