May 9, 2025
Merry Hell
Merry Hell Music
Producer: John Kettle
Number of discs: 1
In true folk-rock style, the origins of Rising Of The Bold can be traced to a long weekend in a country house in Shropshire—where the 8 Merry Hell members converged, allowing our five writers to share their latest offerings. These were worked into a band format, inspired by open fires and free-flowing ideas; fine food, foaming ales, Welsh whisky and good company.
The results are fabulous: classic folk-rock with an upbeat, uplifting feel—songs with serious subjects and a sense of humour. We open with an invitation to dance if you’re feeling down. There’s a dark, minor-key jig, cascading fiddle, bright pop joyfulness and voices joined together in harmony—plus an instrumental composed by Simon Swarbrick when he was left alone for several hours with only his violin and a lizard for company. ‘Peace Can Be Louder Than War’ sees the band united with a ‘Thousand Voice Choir’: following a social media appeal, individuals, groups of friends and choirs submitted their own recordings. Along with contributions from audiences at a number of gigs, these were mixed with our own singers to create a truly worldwide song of positive desire, featuring singing from four continents and twenty-six countries. Issued as an album taster on New Year’s Day, 2025, it reached the heady heights of the American Folk Radio Airplay Charts Top 30.
The game’s all about connections. ‘Rising For The Bold,’ is connected in so many ways, the game is won. The album succeeds at everything it and it’s creators wanted to achieve. The perfect result.
A new Merry Hell album is something always eagerly anticipated at Folking Towers, and Rising Of The Bold, the latest from our semi-regular “Best Live Band” winners, is no different.
It’s been a couple of years since Northwest Folk Rock stalwarts Merry Hell released a studio album but they are back with a brilliant new offering called ‘Rising of the Bold’. If anyone doesn’t know, and I find that unlikely, Merry Hell are one of the hardest working bands around, gigging relentlessly with an effervescence that is hard to match.
Merry Hell are travelling down new avenues in Folk Rock circles, creating some new sounds beyond their usual folk roots. They don’t do dirge or dull; their new creations retain their vibrancy, joyfulness and melody.
The clue is in the title, this is most definitely Merry Hell's boldest album to date, rising to new heights, with an incredible amount of depth, layer and harmony. This is unlike any previous Merry Hell album, and is their most accomplished and fully fledged sound to date, stunning.
There can be little in the world of contemporary folk-rock music that compares with the multiple frissons of excitement that accompany the anticipation of a new release from Merry Hell.