Baterz: Out of HellOut of Hell is Baterz' first solo album, and is a slightly different beast than his work with Bedridden. By necessity, the collective sensibility of the band is replaced here by straight songwriting, furthering the trend heard on I Told You It Wouldn't Work. As a result the songs on Out of Hell tend to be straight, three and a half minutes long, with traditional verse/chorus song structures. The other main transformation concerns the content. Where Bedridden's songs may be very funny, it is usually by virtue of being absurd, sometimes ridiculous; Baterz is very deliberately crossing a line here, from writing songs that are funny to writing Funny Songs - in other words, deliberately moving towards comedy. The risk in such a move would be that the songs may sink into mere novelty; thankfully, Baterz soars far beyond any such failings, and has produced a fantastic - and yes, a very, very funny - album (starting with the brilliant title, Baterz Out of Hell, spoofing the eminently spoofable Meat Loaf album).
Baterz sounds like he has pushed his limits here, and has evolved wonderfully on a number of fronts. For one thing, his sense of melody is fantastic; the songs here are without exception catchy, memorable, and extraordinarily well crafted, displaying a remarkable talent for songwriting, and a strong, unique melodic approach. Also impressive is his production work. The album is, with very few exceptions, written, performed, and recorded entirely by Baterz himself, and he has truly worked wonders with limited resources. He has a very clear idea of his abilities as well as his limitations, and on Out of Hell does a superb job of stretching the former to their maximum without ever overstepping the latter. This is true of his singing, his guitar work, and all other elements of the work, but nowhere is it as apparent as regarding the production. The album is extremely well recorded, and constantly amazes in how full, rich, and varied a collection of sounds and textures he is able to build out of such simple materials. Witness the pulsing density of the chorus of "Zombie Girl," with belting percussion, howling backing voices, and swirling, unidentifiable instrumental touches; the lovely harmonies of "Butterfly," with its multitude of hilarious backing vocals and sound effects; the brilliant "Darling," which builds a full, professional studio recording out of the simplest of parts, including perfect, almost imperceptible details such as the wandering high-pitched organ whine of the "chorus"; the brilliant "horn section" of "Haemophiliac," built out of multiple tracks of Baterz himself on clarinets and trumpet; or, perhaps the master stroke, the closing triumph of "Valiant," with another clarinet-based horn section, bounding percussion, and a terrific violin solo, which together make for what is probably the highlight of the album. The songs are also mixed beautifully well, without exception, perfectly balancing numerous contrasting instruments and effects, and working wonders with subtleties and barely audible details. Take, for example, the perfect balance between guitars, percussion, the barely present organ, and particularly the backing vocals of "Darling," or the full pop orchestration of "Babysitter" - a full, controlled mix of guitars, piano, and backing harmonies. Again, considering the limited resources with which he is working, Out of Hell shows a sure, deft, and masterful touch that does not falter. Lyrically, much of the black humour, the obsession with illness and injury, already commented upon in the Bedridden reviews, are fully visible here. (Baterz himself is a hemophiliac who contracted HIV at a relatively young age through blood transfusions; it is tempting to read into this irreverence and defiance towards illness and death a coming-to-terms with mortality and physical limitations, extending maybe as far as being the source of the same themes throughout Bedridden's output - but this may very well be entirely spurious.) For example, the album opens with the line "The day my girlfriend died..." - but not to worry, she comes back as a zombie. "Butterfly" starts with "I was riding my bicycle one warm spring afternoon..." and proceeds through accident and injury, through mishap after mishap, to more or less utter ruin. Even the hilarious "Spidermother" (in which the singer's mother, obviously, turns into a spider) can be read as belonging to this same theme as physical transformation/degradation/alienation. Some tracks deal more directly - and less humourously - with affliction. "Haemophiliac" is a very direct, but still very funny, and presumably self-satirizing, account of life with hemophilia. "Morning After" is even more direct and honest, an account of some of the bitter realities of, and people's attitudes towards, sexual relations and HIV. The song is all the more sobering as it is the only completely serious track on the album, a role it handles remarkably well: it is somewhat understated, and the more powerful for it. But while one can discuss the production merits, melodic writing, or content of the songs as much as one wants, the bottom line is that these are simple, straightforward songs, and they are (for the most part) mountains of fun. The songs are, indeed, very funny, which is enough in itself to ensure their success, but they are also terrific on their own, with or without the comedy. These are songs to which you will listen again and again, which stay in your head for the rest of the day, and which you catch yourself singing on the bus or at the grocery store. (There is a dangerous side to all of this: my five-year-old nephew once made me endure a full hour of the song "Giant Squids," played again and again, to his endless delight and my growing desperation.) Personal faves include "Spidermother," "Darling," and "Valiant," as well as the hidden track: a slow, strolling guitar-driven number, filled with samples from countless American television advertisements, along with clips of dogs barking and other nonsense, some of which makes for some truly funny moments - "Ladies, gentlemen, Idaho potatoes..." or "Who WROTE this?? Barbara Streisand!!" But all the songs are great here, and everyone will find their own favourites. A terrific album; we await more from Baterz with avid anticipation.
Baterz: Out of Hell. Army of Nerds Records, 2000. Review by James Andean. 5th issue, March 2002.