After a six-year hiatus, the Toadies finally released their second album, Hell Below/Stars Above, in 2001.
If 1995's Rubberneck was a pretty heavy album, with guitars swimming in a post-grunge murk, Hell Below/Stars Above finds the band trudging through primeval sludge, awakening the ghosts of heavy metal past.
Songs like "Little Sin" evoke hard rock deities Soundgarden, and throughout the release, lead singer Todd Lewis adds plenty of Robert Plant/ Chris Cornell-style high-pitched syllables to counterpoint the "Hammer of the Gods" rhythm section bassist Lisa Umbarger and drummer Mark Rezinek endow the album with.
Besides "Little Sin," highlights are the adrenaline rush "What We Have We Steal" and the requisite pseudo-ballad "Jigsaw Girl." Hell Below/Stars Above isn't all that original, but it's nirvana to some headbangers in an era when rap-metal was the only metal played on the radio.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plane CrashTodd Lewis, Toadies | Toadies | Play | 02:10 | 4 MB | 17 MB |
| 2 | Push the HandTodd Lewis, Toadies | Toadies | Play | 03:37 | 8 MB | 27 MB |
| 3 | Little SinTodd Lewis, Toadies | Toadies | Play | 03:02 | 6 MB | 22 MB |
| 4 | MotivationalTodd Lewis, Toadies | Toadies | Play | 02:45 | 6 MB | 20 MB |
| 5 | HeelTodd Lewis, Toadies | Toadies | Play | 02:46 | 6 MB | 21 MB |
| 6 | You'll Come Down | Toadies | Play | 03:22 | 7 MB | 27 MB |
| 7 | Pressed Against the Sky | Toadies | Play | 04:33 | 10 MB | 31 MB |
| 8 | What We Have We Steal | Toadies | Play | 03:31 | 8 MB | 26 MB |
| 9 | Jigsaw Girl | Toadies | Play | 04:44 | 10 MB | 35 MB |
| 10 | Sweetness | Toadies | Play | 04:13 | 9 MB | 29 MB |
| 11 | Hell Below/Stars AboveTodd Lewis, Toadies | Toadies | Play | 04:20 | 9 MB | 33 MB |
| 12 | Doll Skin | Toadies | Play | 05:45 | 13 MB | 40 MB |
| 44 mins | 102 MB | |||||
| 44 mins | 334 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Todd Lewis | Composer, Guitar, Vocals |
| 2 | Scott McGhee | Management |
| 3 | Monique Mizrahi | Engineer |
| 4 | Mark Reznicek | Drums, Percussion |
| 5 | Tom Rothrock | Producer |
| 6 | Rob Schnapf | Producer |
| 7 | Elliott Smith | Featured Artist, Guest Artist, Piano |
| 8 | Toadies | Composer, Primary Artist |
| 9 | Lisa Umbarger | Bass |
| 10 | Clark Vogeler | Guitar, Piano |
| 11 | Andy Wallace | Mixing |
| 12 | Howie Weinberg | Mastering |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |