Bleep

Maximalist math rockers of many-hyphenated-genres black midi have shown no signs of slowing down with the followup to their 2021 album Cavalcade. If anything, the vicious and vigorous performances have only gotten faster, the stakes higher, and the structures head-spinning-er, as the tracks on Hellfire move through arrangements of thundering drums into smooth jazz into endlessly climbing arpeggiated whirlwinds. Heads split open and thoughts spill out with theatrical delivery, elephantine trumpets meet jaunty, right-angled guitars, meet sleazy characters whose deceptive narratives drive the album’s tormented themes. With a totally scorched third album, black midi continue to reach new peaks in their career.