Hell Breaks Loose (album)

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.

Hell Breaks Loose
Studio album by Shane Nicholson
Released	7 August 2015
Length	45:09
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)

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
Source	Rating
The Music AU	[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.	Title	Length
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

Country	Date	Format	Label	Catalogue
Various	7 August 2015[11][12]	CD Digital download streaming	Lost Highway Australia, Universal	4745547
Australia	14 August 2015[3]	LP		4742475

References

1. "Shane Nicholson Hell Breaks Loose". The Music AU. 29 July 2015. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
2. "Album Premiere Shane Nicholson Hell Breaks Loose". Country Music Channel. July 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
3. "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.