Los Campesinos! return after a seven-year gap with the ambitious All Hell. It is their first release since Sick Scenes (2017). The album’s opener, “The Coin-Op Guillotine” gently leads listeners into the band’s distinctive sound of indie rock and flickering emotional tones throughout the track. The lyrics explore the crushing of the human spirit through capitalism and the impeding of reward under it. Gareth David Paisey’s vocal delivery spans on uncertainty by pushing through tragedy and spite, “My brain is fried / and my spirit’s broken / Working for The Coin-Op Guillotine.” Lyrically, the song talks about the grievances of being unable to progress in a society that keeps the working class at the bottom and how capitalism keeps them there. All Hell is an album built around atmospheric backgrounds, narratives that critique society and lyrics that allude to politics, divorce, and are reflective of the band’s legacy and future.

From the society critiquing opener “The Coin-Op Guillotine” to the dreamy and reflective “Adult Acne Stigma,” comes a record that takes listeners on a journey that is a culmination of musical landscapes that combine rock anthems and beautiful crescendos; emphasizing a sense of substance and depth. A future filled with uncertainty.  Tracks such as “Holy Smoke” (2005) call back to the early sounds of Los Campesinos! The blistering production is infectious and grabs listeners attention from the song’s slow build up to its climatic middle. The song’s energetic production lingers on the band’s early sounds of emo and indie rock meshed into one. Structurally the lyrics are an inviting banger that invite the listener to dance and fight the personal battle within their head.

All Hell is the band’s first to be self-produced and released. Produced by Tom Bromley, the album’s production includes carefully constructed narratives that allude to a style that uses anxieties, loss of love and a vision of our everchanging world around us. The result of this production is an album with strengths and weaknesses in its musical landscape that pertains in maintaining the band’s legacy and future within the indie rock scene. Other tracks that culminate this message include the mesmerizing “A Psychic Wound,” that is ferocious and vigorous with its explosive hook and rhythmic beats, “It’s a Psychic Wound you can’t conceal / closing, opening, never heals.” The wound is a cosmic one, using a breakdown at a pharmacy comparatively to pain shared among people, “Broke down babbling at the pharmacy, begging the doc to dispense to me / It once was ours / but now it’s mine, / these things get better over time.” The song is impactful and provides listeners with a glimmer of hope.

Formed in early 2006, Los Campesinos! are a seven-piece band from Cardiff, Wales. Consisting of Gareth Paisey (lead vocals), Kim Paisey (keyboards), Jason Adelinia (drums, percussion, programming), Matt Fidler (back vocals, bass), Neil Turner (guitars), Rob Taylor (sleeve image, album design, illustration) and Tom Bromley (production, string arrangements). All Hell is Los Campesinos! first album in seven years that culminates the band’s legacy and work towards the future within the indie rock landscape. Lead single, “Feast of Tongues” plays with build up and harmonious vocals that captivates the listener and doesn’t let go. It serves as an inviting track that is often haunting and illuminating to new and old fans. Weak moments of the album that may stir listeners off are the interludes between songs. Such as “I. Spit; or, a Bite Mark in the Shape of the Sunflower State,” “II. Music For Aerial Toll House” and “III. Surfing A Contrail.” They tend to slow down the trajectory and cohesion of the album’s memorable tracks. “Kms” is a standout track which features Kim Paisey on lead. The track is tender and atmospheric against a set of strumming guitars in the background. The album’s weaker moments do not stray from its strength as an album. That is a testament of the band’s legacy, evolution and impact of being the UK’s first self-proclaimed emo band. Recommended for new and old fans who have stood by Los Campesinos! — they have continued to prove they are a band that holds true to their legacy, craft and longevity within an ever expanding indie rock scene that continues to flourish. All Hell is a snapshot of Los Campesinos! that will live on and continue to burn brightly towards the future.