Hell Breaks Loose (album)

Last updated
Hell Breaks Loose
Hell Breaks Loose by Shane Nicholson.png
Studio album by
Released7 August 2015 (2015-08-07)
Length45:09
Label Lost Highway Australia, Universal
Producer Shane Nicholson, Matt Fell
Shane Nicholson chronology
Pitch, Roll & Yaw - Live and Solo
(2014)
Hell Breaks Loose
(2015)
Love and Blood
(2017)

Hell Breaks Loose is the seventh studio album from Australian country singer Shane Nicholson, released on Lost Highway Australia, Universal in August 2015. It is the first album of new material since Nicholson's marriage break-up with Kasey Chambers in 2013. [1] The album peaked at number 16 on the ARIA Charts.

Contents

Upon release, the album was described by Country Music Channel as Nicholson's most personal collection with Nicholson saying "Many of these songs are about self-discovery and new horizons, and also how that's not always great, it can also sometimes be difficult. You can veer down a few wrong paths. It can take time to adjust." [2] Nicholson later added "I don't feel compelled to prove anything. I know with Hell Breaks Loose we came up with something that I loved. That's all that has ever mattered to me, really. The weight on your shoulders certainly feels greater when you are younger, and these days I'm just happy to be doing what I do, the way I like to do it." [3] [4]

At the ARIA Music Awards of 2015, the album was won the ARIA Award for Best Country Album. [5]

At the Country Music Awards of Australia in January 2016, the album won the award for Alternative Country Album of the Year. [6]

Background and recording

In mid-2013 Nicholson announced he had separated from wife of eight years, Kasey Chambers, with whom he shares son Arlon and daughter Poet, and had released two ARIA award winning albums. The normally prolific songwriter then entered a dry spell of almost a year. At the invitation of his friend and indigenous songwriter Warren H Williams, Nicholson travelled to the remote town of Hermannsburg, north-west of Alice Springs. Nicholson said "I had things on the boil during that time but I wasn't properly writing. It was a product of my environment though." Nicholson was producing albums for other people "I was just making record after record, back to back, for other people [and] after [a] 14-hour sessions in the studio you just don't come home and write songs." Nicholson said the vastness of the landscapes around Hermannsberg gave Nicholson the distance, both physical and figurative, to pick up his guitar to write. "What I got out there, there was this sense of perspective and being removed from my bubble." Nicholson said the distance is what he "needed", saying "it was the catalyst for the record coming to life." [7]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
The Music AUStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [1]

Chris Familton from The Music AU discussed the songs personal reflection with traumatic experience, geographical locations and depression saying "Heavy subject matter abounds yet Nicholson applies a wonderfully light musical touch with plenty of acoustic guitar, piano and shuffling drums. Melodies dance and dive across the 13 songs whose folk and country hooks, with time, dig in deep." [1] Country Music Channel called the album "wonderful". [8]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."Weight of the World"2:30
2."Hell Breaks Loose"3:25
3."When the Money's All Gone"3:56
4."Slow Coach"2:30
5."Irons & Chains"2:10
6."One Big Mess"3:34
7."Secondhand Man"4:10
8."Hermannsburg"3:17
9."Bury My Guns"2:27
10."Single Fathers"2:56
11."Far Cry"3:09
12."You and Whose Army?"2:44
13."Eyes on the Prize"2:47
14."In Favour of the House" (bonus track)2:52
15."I Ain't Had Your Love" (bonus track)2:42

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2015)Peak
Position
Australian Albums (ARIA) [9] 16

Year-end charts

Chart (2015)Position
Australian Country Albums Chart [10] 48

Release history

CountryDateFormatLabelCatalogue
Various7 August 2015 [11] [12] Lost Highway Australia, Universal 4745547
Australia14 August 2015 [3]
4742475

Related Research Articles

Kasey Chambers Australian country singer-songwriter and musician

Kasey Chambers is an Australian country singer-songwriter and musician born in Mount Gambier. She is the daughter of fellow musicians, Diane and Bill Chambers, and the younger sister of musician and producer, Nash Chambers. All four were members of a family country music group, Dead Ringer Band, from 1992 to 1998, with Chambers starting her solo career thereafter. Five of her twelve studio albums have reached No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart, Barricades & Brickwalls, Wayward Angel, CarnivalRattlin' Bones and Dragonfly. In November 2018 she was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame and has won an additional fourteen ARIA Music Awards with nine for Best Country Album. Her autobiography, A Little Bird Told Me..., which was co-authored with music journalist, Jeff Apter, was released in 2011.

Beccy Cole Australian country music singer-songwriter, guitarist

Beccy Cole, also known as Beccy Sturtzel, Rebecca Diane Albeck and Bec O'Donovan, is an Australian country music singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. She has released ten studio albums, with six reaching the ARIA Albums Chart top 40, Little Victories, Preloved, Songs & Pictures, Great Women of Country, Sweet Rebecca and The Great Country Songbook Volume 2. Her video album, Just a Girl Singer, peaked at No. 6 on the ARIA Top 40 DVD Chart. Cole has received nine Golden Guitar trophies at the CMAA Country Music Awards of Australia. During December 2005 to January 2006 she performed for Australian Defence Force personnel in Iraq. Her related single, "Poster Girl ", expresses her support for the troops. It won the 2007 Song of the Year at CMAA awards, and its music video was listed at No. 1 on Australia's Country Music Channel. In March 2015 she published her autobiography, Poster Girl.

Shane Nicholson (singer) Australian singer

Shane Nicholson is an Australian singer-songwriter from Brisbane. He is best known for his two studio albums with Kasey Chambers, to whom he was married from 2005 to 2013. As a solo artist he's won APRA Awards, Golden Guitars and an ARIA Award. He's also been named Producer of the Year at the Country Music Awards of Australia.

<i>Rattlin Bones</i> 2008 studio album by Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson

Rattlin' Bones is the first collaboration album between the Australian country singer Kasey Chambers and the Australian singer Shane Nicholson, released by Liberation Music in Australia on 21 April 2008.

Warren Hedley Williams is an Aboriginal singer, musician and songwriter from Hermannsburg in Central Australia. Williams is an Arrernte man who plays country music and works as a broadcaster on CAAMA Radio in Alice Springs He started playing guitar at six with his father Gus Williams.

<i>Little Bird</i> (Kasey Chambers album) 2010 studio album by Kasey Chambers

Little Bird is the seventh studio album released by the Australian singer Kasey Chambers, released by Liberation Music in Australia on 17 September 2010. The first single of the album is "Little Bird". The album peaked at number three on the Australian ARIA Charts, becoming Chambers' first album to miss the number one spot since her debut album, The Captain, peaked at number eleven in 1999.

<i>Wreck & Ruin</i> 2012 studio album by Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson

Wreck & Ruin is the second collaboration album between the Australian country singer Kasey Chambers and the Australian singer Shane Nicholson, released by Liberation Music in Australia on 7 September 2012.

<i>Bittersweet</i> (Kasey Chambers album) 2014 studio album by Kasey Chambers

Bittersweet is the tenth studio album by Australian singer-songwriter Kasey Chambers. It was released in August 2014 and debuted at No. 2 in Australia, making it her sixth top 5 album in Australia.

<i>Dragonfly</i> (Kasey Chambers album) 2017 studio album by Kasey Chambers

Dragonfly is the eleventh studio album by Australian singer-songwriter Kasey Chambers. It was released on 20 January 2017.

<i>Lovegrass</i> (album) 2013 studio album by Sara Storer

Lovegrass is the fifth studio album by Australian country music singer Sara Storer. It was released in August 2013and peaked at number 25 on the ARIA Charts.

Bill Chambers is an Australian country musician and former member of the Dead Ringer Band. Chambers's albums Sleeping with the Blues and Cold Trail were nominated for the ARIA Award for Best Country Album. He is best known as being the father of Kasey Chambers.

Dead Ringer Band were an Australian family country music band. They are best known for their ARIA Award winning album Home Fires which won the Best Country Album at the ARIA Music Awards of 1996.

Nash Chambers is an Australian record producer, talent manager, audio engineer and multi-instrumentalist. He is a former member of the family country music group, Dead Ringer Band (1986–98), with his father Bill, mother Diane, and younger sister Kasey Chambers.

<i>Beccys Big Hits</i> 2013 greatest hits album by Beccy Cole

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The discography of Kasey Chambers, an Australian singer-songwriter, consists of twelve studio albums; five of which have peaked at number one on the ARIA Charts.

<i>Love and Blood</i> (album) 2017 studio album by Shane Nicholson

Love and Blood is the eighth studio album from Australian country singer Shane Nicholson, released on Lost Highway Australia, Universal in July 2017. The album peaked at number 28 on the ARIA Charts.

<i>Campfire</i> (Kasey Chambers album) 2018 studio album by Kasey Chambers

Campfire is the twelfth studio album by Australian singer-songwriter Kasey Chambers and co-credited to the Fireside Disciples, a trio of Kasey's long-term guitarist Brandon Dodd, Kasey's father Bill Chambers and Yawuru elder Alan Pigram.

Rattlin Bones (song)

"Rattlin' Bones" is a country song written and performed by Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson. It was produced by Kasey's brother, Nash and released in 2008 as the lead single from their collaborative studio album, of the same (2008). The song peaked at number 55 on the ARIA Charts in December 2008.

<i>Bad Machines</i> 2011 studio album by Shane Nicholson

Bad Machines is the fourth studio album from Australian country singer Shane Nicholson, released by Liberation Music in Australia in March 2011. The album peaked at number 29 on the ARIA Charts, becoming Nicholson's first solo album to peak in the top 50. The album spawned the APRA Award winning song "Famous Last Words", which won Best Country Work at the APRA Music Awards of 2012.

Adam & Eve (song)

"Adam & Eve" is a country song written and performed by Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson. It was co-produced by Kasey's brother, Nash and released in July 2012 as the lead single from their pair second collaborative studio album, Wreck & Ruin (2012).

References

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  2. "Album Premiere Shane Nicholson Hell Breaks Loose". Country Music Channel. July 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  3. 1 2 "Hell Breaks Loose LP)". JB HiFi. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  4. "Shane Nicholson's album explores marriage breakdown". The Courier. 5 August 2015. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  5. "ARIA Awards by Year – 2015". ARIA Awards. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  6. "Past Award Winners". Country. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  7. "Shane Nicholson wears heart on sleeve in new studio record". Maitland Mercury. 19 August 2015. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  8. "Track by Track". Country Music Channel. August 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  9. "Australiancharts.com – Shane Nicholson – Hell Breaks Loose". Hung Medien. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  10. "2015 ARIA Australian Artist Albums Chart". Australian Recording Industry Association . Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  11. "Love and Blood (DD)". Apple Music. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  12. "Hell Breaks Loose (CD)". JB HiFi . Retrieved 1 May 2020.