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http://www.popmatters.com/pm/music/reviews/6433/hella-acoustics/HellaAcoustics(5RC)US release date: 12 September 2006UK release date: 11 September 2006by Daniel SpicerAnother day, another genre. With this 23 minute EP, Sacramento duo Hella may well have spawned math-folk—simply by taking the amplification out of their usual over-driven aural assault and switching to acoustic instruments. If anything, by removing the distraction of power, the move makes their formidable Prog-Metal chops sound even more unnervingly precise, complex, and relentless. At times, these fractured yet closely composed tunes sound like a strange kind of speed-Beefheart—approximating some of Don Van Vliet’s most fiendishly complicated instrumental compositions tackled at a punishing tempo. Throughout the 6 tracks on offer here, Spencer Seim’s guitar veers from Fripp-esque twiddles to a kind of mutoid doom-bluegrass by way of disjointed Les Claypool-style twangs, while Zach Hill attacks the drum kit with vicious brushes, rolling out intense clusters of kick-drum triplets that sound like some weird amalgam of free-jazz and thrash metal. Which, come to think of it, is pretty much what Hella is all about. — 24 October 2006Related articles
Review: Hella: Theres No 666 in Outer SpaceMike Schiller26.Mar.07Despite the precise playing, despite the fact that there are vocals, and despite the presence of plenty of startlingly fresh moments, There's No 666 in Outer Space is surprisingly forgettable. 
Review: Hella: Concentration Face/HomeboyNate Seltenrich08.Nov.05Noise rock duo Hella refuse to relent on new DVD/EP combo. 
Review: Hella: Church Gone Wild / Chirpin HardZeth Lundy21.Mar.05The spaztastic noise-rock duo splits up for a pair of puzzling solo albums.
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