‘Hellboy’ paints a surreal portrait of an artist – and, more importantly, a young adult – who is struggling. On ‘fucked up’, Åhr sings: “I ain’t gonna lie, I’ma keep it real / I don’t wanna tell you how I feel”. It’s a confession to his fans and himself that, despite his best intentions, he can never truly reveal what goes inside his anguished mind.
On his previous projects, Åhr hid his vocals around a production consisting of alternative-rock samples. But on ‘Hellboy’, he shares his experiences of rampant drug use, suicidal declarations, depressive tendencies in a powerful and abrasive manner.
Here he exposes the tumultuousness whirlpool of emotions a brain can go through in one day. ‘Hellboy’ artfully and tenderly places this gamut of emotions into a project that portrays its authors as at once audacious and apathetic. The importance of ‘Hellboy’ is marked through its timelessness; it feels as necessary today as it did four years ago. With its re-release, ‘Hellboy’ serves as yet another reminder of the immense talent this unique artist possessed.
- Dhruva Balram - nme.com
