''Hell-On'' is the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter

Neko Case Neko Richelle Case (; born September 8, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and member of the Canadian indie rock group the New Pornographers. Case has a powerful, untrained contralto voice, which has been described by contemporaries and cri ...

, released by record label ''

Anti- Anti- is an American record label founded in 1999 as a sister label to Epitaph Records. While Epitaph's focus has mostly been on punk rock, Anti-'s roster includes gospel (Mavis Staples), country (Merle Haggard), hip hop (Sage Francis, The Cou ...

'' on June 1, 2018. It was largely recorded in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, and Case co-produced six of the album's twelve tracks with

Björn Yttling Björn Daniel Arne Yttling (born 16 October 1974 in Umeå, Sweden) is a Swedish music producer, songwriter, and musician. His production and songwriting credits include Lykke Li, Chrissie Hynde, Primal Scream, Franz Ferdinand, Sahara Hotnights, A ...

Peter Bjorn and John Peter Bjorn and John are a Swedish indie pop/rock band formed in Stockholm in 1999, named after the first names of the band's members: Peter Morén (vocals, guitar and harmonica), Björn Yttling (bass guitar, keyboards and vocals) and John Eriks ...

Overview

The album was recorded during a tumultuous period in Case's life. Already dealing with serious problems caused by obsessed

stalkers Stalking is unwanted and/or repeated surveillance by an individual or group toward another person. Stalking behaviors are interrelated to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person or monitoring them. The term ...

, her farmhouse residence in Vermont was destroyed in a fire while she was in Sweden working on the album, leaving her homeless. Recording and being away from home during this time helped her not dwell on these problems and allowed her to focus her energy on something positive. Case promoted the album by touring with

Ray LaMontagne Raymond Charles Jack LaMontagne (; born June 18, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. LaMontagne has released eight studio albums: ''Trouble'', ''Till the Sun Turns Black'', '' Gossip in the Grain'', ''God Willin' & the Creek Don' ...

Cover art

Fans and critics have speculated that the fire in the album's cover art represents the fire that destroyed Case's Vermont home, but she has said this was actually completely coincidental. Inspired by the popular

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

series ''

Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, the first ...

'', she wanted to craft a family

sigil A sigil () is a type of symbol used in magic. The term has usually referred to a pictorial signature of a deity or spirit. In modern usage, especially in the context of chaos magic, sigil refers to a symbolic representation of the practitioner ...

, saying: "I decided that my background was so trashy that my family crest would probably have a cigarette butt on it. But I was also obsessed with fake Hollywood cigarettes, so I thought it would be funny to make a costume out of what looked like burning cigarettes."

Critical reception

''Hell-On'' received universal acclaim from critics. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, it has an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

score of 85 based on 22 reviews. In his review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, critic Mark Deming praised the album, writing: "With ''Hell-On'', Case has once again given herself an ideal showcase for her talents as a vocalist, songwriter, and producer; it's lush but intimate, and one of the strongest and most satisfying records she's delivered to date. Which, given her catalog, says a great deal."

Accolades

Track listing

Personnel

*Neko Case – vocals, backing vocals, guitar, kalimba, tambourine, clave, piano *Paul Rigby – electric guitar, acoustic guitar, 12-string guitar *

Mark Lanegan Mark William Lanegan (November 25, 1964 – February 22, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter, and poet. First becoming prominent as the lead singer for the early grunge band Screaming Trees, he was also known as a member of Queens of the St ...

- duet vocals on "Curse of the I-5 Corridor" *Eric Bachmann - guitar, duet vocals on "Sleep All Summer", piano *Rachel Flotard,

k.d. lang Kathryn Dawn Lang (born November 2, 1961), known by her stage name k.d. lang, is a Canadian pop (music), pop and country music, country singer-songwriter and occasional actress. Lang has won Juno Awards and Grammy Awards for her musical perfor ...

Kelly Hogan Kelly Hogan (born January 11, 1965) is an American singer-songwriter, often known for her work as a member of Neko Case's backing band, as well as for her solo work. Early and personal life Hogan was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the daughter of ...

Laura Veirs Laura Pauline Veirs (born October 24, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter based out of Portland, Oregon. She is known for her folk/alternative country records and live performances as well as her collaboration with Neko Case and k.d. lang on ...

Nora O'Connor Nora O’Connor (born April 2, 1968) is an American, Chicago-based musician. Though primarily known for her vocals, O'Connor also plays guitar and bass. For much of 2013, O'Connor toured internationally as a singer in Iron and Wine. She also reco ...

Robert Forster Robert Wallace Forster Jr. (July 13, 1941 – October 11, 2019) was an American actor, known for his roles as John Cassellis in ''Medium Cool'' (1969), Captain Dan Holland in ''The Black Hole'' (1979), Abdul Rafai in ''The Delta Force'' (1986), ...

Kathryn Calder Kathryn Jane Calder (born June 17, 1982) is a Canadian indie rock musician, who performs as a solo artist, and is a member of the bands The New Pornographers and Frontperson. She is a former member of Immaculate Machine. Calder started with Th ...

Carl Newman Allan Carl Newman (born April 14, 1968) is a Canadian musician and singer–songwriter. He was a member of the indie rock bands Superconductor and Zumpano in the 1990s. Following the breakup of those bands, he reemerged as the leader of the Ne ...

Joe Seiders Joseph Paul Seiders (born September 5, 1980) is an American touring/session multi-instrumentalist and is the drummer and backing vocalist for The New Pornographers. Primarily a drummer, Joe also sings, plays keyboards, accordion, and guitar. Se ...

Beth Ditto Mary Beth Patterson (born February 19, 1981), known by her stage name Beth Ditto, is an American singer and songwriter most notable for her work with the indie rock band Gossip. Her voice has been compared to Etta James, Janis Joplin and Tin ...

- backing vocals *

Doug Gillard Douglas Scott Gillard (born December 23, 1965) is an American guitarist and songwriter. He has been a member of major indie pop and punk bands, most notably Guided by Voices, Nada Surf, Bambi Kino, Death of Samantha, and Cobra Verde. Early li ...

- guitar, harpsichord *

Sebastian Steinberg Sebastian Steinberg (born February 20, 1959) is an American bass player, best known for his work in the band Soul Coughing. Biography Steinberg played with Soul Coughing throughout the band's entire history, from 1992 to 2000. In 2001, Steinberg ...

- autoharp, electric bass *

Joey Burns Calexico is a Tucson, Arizona-based Americana, Tex-Mex, indie rock band. The band's two main members, Joey Burns and John Convertino, first played together in Los Angeles as part of the group Giant Sand. They have recorded a number of albums on Q ...

- upright bass, cello, bass, piano, wurlitzer, pump organ, synthesizer, vibraphone *

Barbara Gruska The Belle Brigade was an American vocal and instrumental duo from Los Angeles, California, consisting of siblings Barbara Gruska (born c. 1983) on guitar, drums, and vocals, and Ethan Gruska (born c. 1989) on guitar, piano, and vocals. The duo r ...

- drums, percussion, drum machine *Jeff Galegher - kalimba loop sample, guitar *Björn Yittling - keyboards, bass, guitars *

Steve Berlin Steven M. Berlin (born September 14, 1955, Philadelphia) is an American saxophonist, keyboardist and record producer, best known as a member of the rock group Los Lobos and, before that, Top Jimmy & the Rhythm Pigs, the Blasters, and the Flesh ...

- saxophone *

Thom Monahan Thom Monahan is an American producer/engineer and musician who is best known for his work with the bands Pernice Brothers, Fruit Bats and Vetiver. He has also produced albums by Devendra Banhart, Wild Nothing, Beachwood Sparks, and the Chris R ...

- tambourine, tuba *Tobias Tagesson - drums *Simi Stone - violin, backing vocals *John Collins - synthesizer *Chris Schultz - soundscape, space echo loop *

Matt Chamberlain Matthew Chamberlain (born April 17, 1967) is an American session musician, drummer, producer and songwriter. Biography Life and career Chamberlain was born in San Pedro, California on April 17, 1967. He began learning how to play the drums ...

- drums, percussion *

Tom V. Ray Tom V. Ray is an American bassist living in Chicago. He was born in 1965, and grew up on a farm in Vincennes, Indiana. Ray’s professional musical career began in 1983, when he began performing with local bluegrass, country and classic rock co ...

– bass *Jon Rauhouse – guitar, pedal steel *Dan Hunt - drums, percussion *Sandy Schwoebel - bass flute * Kyle Crane - tambourine

Charts

References

2018 albums Albums produced by Björn Yttling Anti- (record label) albums Neko Case albums {{2010s-folk-album-stub