Album Reviews

- by Tom Dumarey

Hank Von Hell. Name ring a bell? Then you have probably spent some time listening to Turbonegro back in the day, maybe even ran around with a jeans jacket that had a Turbojugend back patch on it. Back then, Hank Von Hell went through life as Hank Von Helvete. When Turbonegro called it a day in 2010, he apparently said he’d never be back. But here he is yet again with his first solo album, ‘Egomania’.

Don’t get too enthusiastic though. Unless you are particularly fond of generic hard rock, there isn’t a lot to enjoy on here. Von Hell’s lyrics are as inane as ever with songs about walking around with your dick hanging out (‘Pretty Decent Exposure’) and choruses that exist of little more lines like ‘bum to bum, it’s the beat of my drum’ (‘Bum To Bum’). As if that isn’t bad enough yet, all of the songs are built around the kind of cheesy riffs that hair metal bands had already worn out back in the 80ies.

I doubt anyone was waiting for this album. Then again, what the hell do I know. They seem to share a similar taste in 80ies clichés with Ghost's latest album and they turned that one into their most succesful release to date.

Track listing:

1. Egomania
2. Pretty Decent Exposure     
3. Blood
4. Dirty Money     
5. Bum to Bum      
6. Never Again     
7. Bombwalk Chic     
8. Wild Boy Blues     
9. Too High     
10. Adios (Where's My Sombrero?)