Hellyeah’s fifth studio album is ‘Unden!able’ and it is undeniably fantastic (sorry, had to do it). It is the best album they have done to date. It is heavy, hard and pounding but melodic at the same time.
I have had the album for 2 weeks now and have really spent a lot of time absorbing it’s greatness. It is funny how the older I get, the heavier I tend to like it (there are so many ways you could take that). When I was younger, I wouldn’t have given them a listen, but now I can’t get enough.
The album opens with the intro “!” and slowly builds to the hard-driving song “X”. The song will get your blood flowing with the pounding Vinnie Paul drums and Chad Gray’s vocals. He is in top form with his gravelly, semi-screaming vocals. He sings with such power and intensity throughout this album.
“Scratch a Lie” comes next and keeps the energy flowing. This is my second favorite song on the album. The bridge and chorus are loud and memorable and keeps you singing it even after the song is done. The guitar work by Tom Maxwell and newcomer, Christian Brady, are awesome on the song and the next one “Be Undeniable”.
“Be Undeniable” doesn’t slow things down either. The title song comes blasting in and keeps your head banging the whole time. The songs so far on this album are some of the best they have done and the best opening of any of their albums.
The first single, “Human”, is a great song that talks about how we all have flaws and aren’t perfect. We are only human and make mistakes. Plus a great a guitar solo.
Next up is “Leap of Faith” which is a different song for them. It was a little slower paced and seemed very radio friendly. I think Chad does a great job on this one. This song leads into “Blood Plague” which I did not like at first. But with more listens, I started really getting in to it. It is very heavy with killer drums, bass (thanks to Kyle Sanders) and the guitar work is awesome.
They do have one cover song on the album and it is a cover of Phil Collins “I Don’t Care Anymore”. The one thing special about this cover is it features guitar parts by the late, great Dimebag Darrell. It is a pretty good cover, but I felt the drums could have been a just a little more pronounced.
The one big misstep on the album for me was “Live or Die”. It has too much screaming in the vocals and I just never enjoyed this one even with more listens. They win me back with the next song “Love Falls”. This is the only ballad on the album and I think they do a great job with it. It is a very dark song about barely hanging on a when life has you down. Check out the lyrics and you will see the darkness. Chad does another great job on the vocals and you can feel the pain in the lyrics.
The song then goes into my favorite song “Startariot”. This song is going to sound great live and will have everyone going nuts. I hope the crowds won’t go out and start a riot, but it is an intense enough song to do just that (please don’t do it though). It is a little cheesy with spelling out the title during the song, but it is also part of the reason I like it. They make it work. This will be a new song to add to my Road Rage Playlist.
The album ends with “Grave”, another hard rocking, intense song. The album starts with 3 extremely strong, heavy, pounding songs and ends with two more just as great. The whole album was just incredible and I can see this one on rotation for quite a while.
Track Listing:
- “!” (Intro)
- “X” – Keeper
- “Scratch a Lie” – Keeper
- “Be Undeniable” – Keeper
- “Human” – Keeper
- “Leap of Faith” – Keeper
- “Blood Plague” – Keeper
- “I Don’t Care Anymore” (Phil Collins Cover) – Keeper
- “Live or Die” – Delete
- “Love Falls” – Keeper
- “10-34” (Intro to Startariot)
- “Startariot” – Keeper
- “Grave” – Keeper
10 keepers out 11 songs – 91% (4.5 out 5 stars). Hellyeah puts together their best effort so far. The album just rocks out from beginning to end. Chad Gray, Tom Maxwell, Vinnie Paul, Kyle Sanders, and Christian Brady should be commended as I think they couldn’t have made a better record. If all metal albums were this good, I would be deaf by now from keeping this cranked up with each listen.
2 Loud 2 Old Music 
Yet another band you review that I’d not heard of. Every time I think I’m pretty much “in the know” about current artists, bands and their music, I’m quickly reminded of how little of it I’ve been exposed to. The thing is, many friends not much into music hardly know ANY current bands, which boggles my mind.
HELLYEAH certainly kicks ass and takes no prisoners! Like you, I’ve come to more greatly appreciate hardcore rock over the past few years. Five years ago I would have said this sucks, but now I can get into it. I have a question for you, though: Do you actually own all the albums you review or discuss? I honestly purchase only four or five CDs a year and perhaps another 10 or so individual songs. Would like to buy more to support the artists, but just can’t afford it, nor see the point when so much of it’s available for streaming.
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All the older albums I have talked about, yes I own. Not all the newer stuff. I stream most everything now with Apple Music. It has allowed me to experiment more and choose things I wouldn’t normally think of listening to. I did just buy the Candlebox album on vinyl after reviewing it. I love that album. If I really like something, I will end up buying it, but usually digital download and not CD unless it has something extra like a Dvd of a concert or something with it. There is just so much out there, i don’t think I will ever get to listen to it all and I know I will miss out on some great stuff.
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