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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $8 CAD

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Comes in a digipak with artwork by Gabe Foreman. Actual human baby not included.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Baby via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $10 CAD or more 

     

  • Limited Edition 10-Year Anniversary LP
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    On the tenth anniversary of the release of the third Burning Hell record "Baby," BB*Island has released it on a limited edition LP for the first time ever! Remastered for vinyl, Baby comes with a deluxe package including a full colour poster featuring Gabe Foreman's original art "The Old World" that the first Baby cover was based on, plus a thick colour sleeve with all the lyrics and a great photo of the 2009-era Burning Hell by Angus Rowe MacPherson. Ships from Germany via BB*Island - like the dodo or the passenger pigeon, once these are gone, there won't be any more!

    Includes unlimited streaming of Baby via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

1.
Old World 03:34
I remember back when I was in the womb It felt like I was the first baby on the moon Blood cells were the stars and the placenta was the earth and I had amniotic fluid as my space food and I made all kinds of plans for when I got out the things I would do the things I’d talk about (when I learned to talk) and for when I learned to walk I planned the places I would go to like new Brunswick and the mall and the Toronto zoo. And from the uterus I planned out the world I would create I’d ride a scooter or a bus and I would go on dates And in the evenings I’d stay in and concentrate On drafting plans for my own benevolent state Yes I wanted to see that new world That big brown black green and blue world I was getting bored with the small old world I was in I wanted to make that new world My world would be a place where everyone would play saxophones But never soprano saxophones just tenors and baritones And once in a trumpet and a rusty old French horn Would play a solo and make us shake our little bones I was an ambitious little unborn child When the doctor did the ultrasound I winked and I smiled Then I just relaxed and laid back for a while I was patient cause that was kind of my style But to be honest I was looking forward to getting out of there And doing things like growing teeth and a bit of hair But I was also thinking that the whole birth thing was unfair Cause it would be over so quickly after so much time to prepare And then I was finally born into the disease of the world And so were thousands of other little boys and girls And we shook our little fists at the sky and cried and hurled our insults and our anger and took our flags and banners and unfurled them and they said: “Take us back to the old world! We don’t want this ugly new world! We were much happier back then, and we want back in, Take us back to the old world!”
2.
From the smallest ant to the tallest tree Everything has something in common with me The baby ant starts as a gleam in the daddy ant eyes And all the ants they are going to die The tall tree only got tall by chance Successfully competing with the other plants Taking little plants’ water and little plants’ light Avoiding the forest fires, the beetles and the chainsaw bite We’re all line dancing in a furnace of sex and misfortune And the fires are scorching, but if we keep dancing we will survive We’re all romancing just as much as is romantically possible As much as it costs it will all be worth it at the end of the night when we’re still alive Look at the little baby with its little baby hands and eyes Looking at the world with little baby surprise Looking like a little baby you and me Yet another little miracle of genetic potpourri When the little baby plays in his little baby box of sand Will he crush the little ants with his little hands Will a lightning storm bring the tall tree crashing down On the little sandbox and when it does, will there be a little sound If there’s no-one around? Keep dancing, dancers and keep romancing, romancers I told you before, in a different song: that’s all you can do.
3.
I was out for a walk downtown last Saturday night Coming back from a show or something like that And I looked up at the sky and it was dark and covered with clouds And I thought about how I needed to get some kind of job And I thought about how living out of a van isn’t as romantic as it’s made out to be Especially when the only one in the van is me And I sat down on the curb and watched a squirrel get hit by a car And I wondered where you are, whoever you are Every bit of the body needs something to do Every good album needs a slow song or two So out with the adenoids and in with the ballads Every future needs androids, every model needs salads Well as I was sitting there looking from the dead squirrel to the distant taillights of the car that hit it I thought about how if I did have a real job I’d probably last two weeks and then quit it And I thought about how my van was pretty nice after all and since I was in my 30s now it seemed appropriate to be driving a minivan anyway Even if I didn’t have an apartment or my own driveway And then some university girls passed me on their way to 80s night and they were all wearing the same kind of pants I was sitting on the curb so I didn’t notice their faces but they all seemed excited to dance And I thought about how when I dance people often think I have some kind of rare syndrome or disease So I don’t dance too often but I’d like to dance as often as I pleased Cause every bit of the body needs something to do Even agoraphobics need the occasional public rendezvous You’ve got to keep dancing if you want to meet some kind of woman or some kind of man And we’re all dancing as fast as we can Everybody needs a body to be somebody Everybody needs a body to be somebody….
4.
Like the things we don’t have names for you’re the dirt that makes the ground Like a broken vacuum cleaner you just push the dirt around Oh let’s not fight we don’t have all night You’re right, you be the bait, I’ll be the bite You’ll be the dictator I’ll be the oppressed You’ll be the third world and I’ll be the West You’ll be the last giant panda bear I’ll be the last giant panda bear sperm You’ll be the baby bird and I’ll be the regurgitated worms You’ll be the shooter girl and I’ll be the bar You’ll be the frat boy I’ll be the guitar You’ll be the lost kid at the zoo I’ll be the ice cream on your chin You’ll be the newborn baby looking for a way back in Thank God that I’ve got the things that I’ve got But a lot of things I’ve got are things I never knew I needed til I met you and you taught me a thing or two about things Things like love and buildings, things like death and happy birthday cake Things like how to give and never take Things like the things that people make You’ll be construction and I’ll be destruction You’ll be the worker I’ll be the means of production You’ll be the leftist student punk I’ll be the accountant you’ll become You’ll be the minivan I’ll be the jeans you think make you look young Thank God that I’ve got the things that I’ve got But a lot of things I’ve got are things I never knew I needed til I met you and you taught me a thing or two about things Things like love and buildings, things like death and happy birthday cake Things like how to give and never take Things like the things that people make
5.
Mosquito 04:40
6.
A man loved a man who loved a woman who loved another man All four of them made a plan to go to a music show Wax Mannequin, he played The Price, the crowd went wild, he played it twice They danced and sang until he stopped and then they shouted no Play on play on but Wax was gone the crowd grew angry and with their drawn and deadly fists and muscled wrists they tore each other into bits And the man, the man the lady and the other man they turned and ran Through flying kicks and pointed sticks and the gnashing teeth of angry kids Man number one he made it and the lady made it too But bits of flesh were all they left behind of man number four and number two And when lady and man one were done with crying tears for everyone They planned to leave the living land for the palace of the damned Man one who loved no ladies bought an expensive black Mercedes And drove it to the funeral and then drove it off a cliff And the lady who loved the final man tied a belt onto a ceiling fan And swung from it until the neighbors found her cold and stiff And now all three men and lady have made the trip to Hades Their love burns the hottest fires to ash and sends the demons panicking And from the flaming rivers leaping fish made out of cinders Splash and dance a fishy dance to the singing of Wax Mannequin
7.
Some sailors say they sail for several years and seldom see the sand at all Oh I know that must be kind of dull The sea’s a salty slippery friend it smells like fish and death and never ends Oh you know this life is kind of dull All we do is sail around for miles and miles and All we want is a bit of dirt and sand A little precious island Precious island, precious island When all the world is wet you bet we get a little funny in the head And we don’t care if it’s Hamilton or somewhere with better hotels like maybe Thailand Everything that’s not the sea Is a little precious island to me All we do is sail around for miles and miles and All we want is a bit of dirt and sand A little precious island Precious island, precious island When all the world is wet you bet we get a little funny in the head And we don’t care if it’s Oshawa or somewhere with fewer trucks like the Scottish Highlands Everything that’s not the sea Is a little precious island to me There’s a thousand reasons to hate the water Unless you are a killer whale, a squid or a sea otter You need a precious island, precious island When all the world is wet you bet we get a little funny in the head And we don’t care if it’s Pickering or somewhere where the cows are loud and the malls are silent Everything that’s not the sea Is a little precious island to me
8.
Animal Hides 02:34
Hello birds in the bushes, hello cows in the sheds Hello fish in the rivers, crayfish in river beds The students say we can learn something from you And for once what the students say is true Every animal has seen an animal die And every animal needs somewhere to hide The flood has been coming since the idea began The hunter’s right behind you so hide if you can Watch out for meteors be careful with knives When you run you should run for your lives God help you if you are alone God help you if you are alone If they said he’d help you, they lied Every animal needs somewhere to hide
9.
Why have I called you here? I guess I’ve got a thing for meetings But please, take a chair, let’s get past the formal greetings It’s so cold outside, let’s ponder wandering the tropics And get to work tabling the topics that we’re here to discuss Disgust runs through my northern veins when I consider what we’re wasting think of the southern gains we could all be tasting speaking of taste, waiter, another gin and tonic Don’t look at me that way, Teutonic thirst is chronic and this is thirsty work. Let’s not be gentle, gentleman, this project’s continental Oh, don’t worry about that spill, friend, the tablecloths are rentals Pass me the map and the brandy, I’ve got a pen already Where’s the ruler? Where’s the compass? Ready, hold it steady…now, will you look at that! Some call us rivals, they say we’ve got interests not friends Well you say tomato, and I say dividends Divided we stand but united we’ll do business is this civilized or what? Can I get a witness, let’s sign this and light a cigar! Oh, far be it for me to presume or decide I just called the meeting I’m not taking sides Side of beef? Cider? More port or maybe champagne from the cellar, oh waiter we’ll need you again It’s best to be under the influence, oh When deciding our spheres of influence, no Scrambling’s for eggs not for colonization Sit settle down just relax and be patient Here is a piece of the pie for you, and here is a piece of the pie for you too And for you, no pie, after all you came late! Do you ask for a kiss on the very first date So lodge a complaint, it’s a hodgepodge a paint by numbers call it whatever you want But let’s focus on finding a final agreement, OK? I’m too drunk to think any more and I say 50 is the magic number, wormless are the birds who slumber in three months we’ll do it let’s begin
10.
11.

credits

released January 1, 2009

All songs by Mathias Kom. All rights reserved. Copyright 2009 SOCAN.

Recorded by Dave Trenaman and Colleen Collins at the Quarantine, Jon Wood and Brian Barr in Vancouver, and Andy Magoffin at the House of Miracles. Featuring Mathias Kom, Jill Staveley, Nick Ferrio, Mike Duguay, Jenny Gleeson, Jenny Mitchell, Darcy McCord, Jay Swinnerton, Aliya Dalfen, Adam DeMarsh, Dave Hartley, Steve McNabb and Charlie Glasspool. Guest vocals by Wax Mannequin and Otis Mr. Bones Magoffin. Cover art by Gabe Foreman, layout and design by Leigh Kotsilidis.

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The Burning Hell

The Burning Hell is the ongoing musical project of songwriter Mathias Kom and multi-instrumentalists Ariel Sharratt and Jake Nicoll, often including additional comrades and collaborators.

Their densely populated genre-shifting songs are packed with an abundance of literary, historical, cultural, and pop-cultural forebears, heroes and villains, subjects and objects, stories and hooks.
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