Bass guitars – what re they all about? They’re a part of the rhythm section obviously but to be fair that’s pretty much it. They’re not exactly sexy and only in a very few instances (and this is only my opinion) are they one of the primary movers in a group’s work – examples would be Steve Harris of Iron Maiden or J.J. Burnel’s work in the Stranglers. So what/ who are the BassInvaders? Well, they are a project thought up in the bar by Markus Grosskopf of Helloween and their CD doesn’t feature any other guitar work at all. Rather like Keane who also eschew the six string thing – it’s all a bit shite to be honest. 

Obviously Grosskopf has a full address book as the list of guests is like a Who’s Who of four stringers from the world of metal but none of that stops HellBassBeaters being pretty unlistenable after a couple of songs despite the vocal contributions of the likes of Firewind’s Apollo Papathanasio and Jesper Binzer from the unfeasibly wonderful D.A.D. An example of where the whole concept screws up is Romance in Black which with “normal” instrumentation would have been quite fetching but as it is, ends up just being difficult to listen to. 

We Live which is the first real song is pretty good and certainly got me thinking that perhaps the no guitar thing could be pulled off but it’s all downhill from there and at times it is actually painful to listen to. Godless Gods is just really, really horrid – it’s tuneless, dull and seriously bad. I have to report that it is an early contender for worst song of 2008. 

Perhaps the albums main selling point is the cover of Helloween’s Eagles Fly Free. Surely it is impossible to screw up such a magnificent song one would think? Yes, actually it is but in many ways it is sad to see such an iconic song reduced to what is in essence a novelty record. Perhaps if this had been released alongside We Live and maybe the semi-decent, semi-amusing The Asshole Song then we could have been looking at an EP. but overall unless you’re a fan of Grosskopf or any of the myriad of guests I’d avoid like the plague.

Let us know your views on HellBassBeaters

Track Listing

Awakening The Bass Machine
We Live
Armageddon
Romance In Black
Godless Gods
Empty Memories (Breaking Free)
Boiling Blood
Far Too Late
Asshole Song
Dead From The Eyes Down
Razorblade Romance
Voices
Eagle Fly Free
To Hell And Back