Zimmer's Hole - When You Were Shouting At The Devil...We Were In League With Satan Review

Posted by Dan Marsicano on 04.21.2008

If your looking for comedy in your metal, look no further than Zimmer's Hole. When You Were Shouting At The Devil...We Were In League With Satan is the third album from the hilarious thrash/death metal band. Can Zimmer's Hole be the Tenacious D of death metal?

The Band

Chris “The Heathen” Valagao-Vocals
Jed Simon-Guitar
Byron Stroud-Bass
Gene Hoglan-Drums


The Track Listing

1. When You Were Shouting At The Devil…We Were In League With Satan-5:14
2. We Rule the Fucking Land-3:50
3. Flight of the Knight Bat-2:41
4. 1312-2:53
5. Devil’s Mouth-3:18
6. The Vowel Song-1:59
7. Fista Corps-3:14
8. Anonymous Esophagus-3:00
9. Alright-3:11
10. Hair Doesn’t Grow On Steel-3:52
11. What’s My Name…Evil-6:32





The Review

Metal music has been known by fans and critics alike to be full of lyrical content that ranges from Satanic worship to destruction to political dissention to, as the young people call it, “fucking shit up.” Humor and comedy in metal is about as widespread as the glowing anticipation for the next Paris Hilton album.

Even with all the seriousness in metal, there are bands out there that take the basic ideas behind metal and twist them around to the humor of the listener. Zimmer’s Hole is one of these bands. Anybody who is into underground metal music knows that three of the band members were in Strapping Young Lad, which was like metal music for people with ADD.

After Strapping Young Lad call it quits, or more specifically, front man Devin Townsend decided to end the band, Zimmer’s Hole got back together to release When You Were Shouting At The Devil…We Were In League With Satan. The band had previously released two albums that were in the vein of humorous death/thrash/speed metal and the band continues in this direction. What makes When You Were Shouting At The Devil ( I’m going to shorten the title for the rest of the review) unique is not just the lyrical content, but the fact that the musicians involved are talented as hell. With all these elements together, you get an album that is like a fresh breath of air in the stale, dark, dank pit that houses today’s metal music.

The album starts out with an absolute monster of an opening track, that being the title track. Hoglan’s bass drum work is pounding and right up front in the mix, drilling its mark into your skull. Valagao’s vocal work is great, hitting high notes that would make King Diamond blush. If you don’t laugh at “Glam rock can suck a cock, it’s strictly for the closet gay,” you don’t have a soul.

The rest of the album’s 40 minute running length continues with the hysterical lyrics and mix of outright death metal and thrash metal that will make you bang your head until your neck aches. The song isn’t all speed though; the band slows the pace down several times throughout. “Devil’s Mouth” has an upbeat groove to it and has a happy sounding chorus that will surprise you the first time you hear it. “What’s My Name…Evil” ends the album with a doom metal song that takes its time to slowly grind into you before hitting the listener with death metal vocals and a catchy chorus that will become a fan favorite at live shows, guaranteed.

It wouldn’t be a comedy album without an appearance from Dethklok’s own Nathan Explosion to tell us about the damning problem of illiteracy in our country in “The Vowel Song”. Since this is Nathan Explosion we are talking about, he gets into the more important topic of chicks with big tits before the band hits into a short, minute long death metal song that teaches the listener about the importance of the Vowels…or not. Who cares, the song kicks ass.

Now, any metal fan knows the strange obsession that some bands have with the dead…like the sexually strange obsession they have. Zimmer’s Hole gets their digs in with the back to back sex anthems “Fista Corps” and “Anonymous Esophagus.” The former is…well, the title explains it, but imagine sound effects added in and you can get a better idea of what the band is getting across. The latter is a heartwarming tale of giving it all you got to show your affection for a person of the opposite sex…by cramming your dick down their throat and making her swallow. Oh, how sweet love is. Thanks Zimmer’s Hole for showing us metal listeners the right way to show our feelings to somebody.

Now, there is one more thing I forgot to mention about the album. We wouldn’t have any metal album without some epic numbers and Zimmer’s Hole doesn’t disappoint. “Hair Doesn’t Grow On Steel” is like every epic song ever made all crammed into four minutes. The song is simple; the battle of good vs. evil, but the band brings excitement and a larger-than-life feel to it. Hell, just read the chorus for further proof…

“Some they may stand and some they may tell
But few will rise up and claim all of hell
Swift is the steel, swing forth the blade
Our enemies fall, be only the brave.”


The Heathen totally kicked my ass the first time I heard the album. I had never heard of Valagao before this album and his performance is the highlight. His vocals range from a death metal growl to a barking scream to clean vocals to a high falsetto ala King Diamond, sometimes going through all these vocal changes in the same song. You can understand every single word he says, no matter the vocal style Valagao is using, which is rare in most contemporary metal bands. It’s an amazing performance and one that should hopefully get him more noticed in the crowded metal scene.

Jed Simon pulls it off on the guitar, possibly putting in the best guitar performance of his career. His solos are great, his guitar tone is perfect, and he really gets what makes a song memorable riff wise. Byron Stroud gets the thankless job of being the bassist and the mix sadly drowns him out most of time. Gene Hoglan…well, he is the man. What else can be said? He is one of the best drummers in the world and definitely doesn’t hone it in on While You Were Shouting At The Devil.

I have given a lot of praise to While You Were Shouting At The Devil and it deserves every bit that I am giving it. I wish that more songs were added to it, as the 40 minutes fly by, leaving you with a taste for more Zimmer’s Hole. Hopefully, it won’t be another seven years before we hear from these guys again. Any metal fans that have a sense of humor (yeah, I know, a rare thing these days) will love what Zimmer’s Hole brings to the table. Pick it up, just so you can hear this timeless lyric from “Anonymous Esophagus:”

“C’mon, swallow, swallow it, c’mon!”

The 411: When You Were Shouting At The Devil...We Were In League With Satan is a hilariously over the top death/thrash metal album that hits your funny bone while tearing your flesh off. The musicianship is top-notch and the lyrics will provide a few great laughs. Zimmer's Hole is the Tenacious D of death metal and will kick your ass while making you laugh at the same time. If you even have an small sense of humor, pick up When You Were Shouting At The Devil.

Final Score:  9.0   [  Amazing ]