Album Review: "If This is Hell, Then I'm Lucky" by Deadboy and the Elephantmen

A Lanternlight Reverie

The creak of an old wooden boat. The slow pull of oars through ink-black water. The kind of night where even the fireflies seem hesitant to break the darkness. That’s what it feels like to listen to If This is Hell, Then I’m Lucky. It’s the sound of swamp water rising over your boots, of ghosts whispering just beyond the tree line, of an old blues singer who made a deal at the crossroads but never got what he bargained for.

This is the first full-length album from Deadboy and the Elephantmen, the early 2000s project of Dax Riggs, whose voice carries the weight of a thousand unspoken confessions. For those who haven’t been blessed (or cursed) by his work, Riggs is the former frontman of Acid Bath, the legendary sludge-metal band known for making doom feel poetic. With Deadboy, he stripped things back—trading in some of the crushing heaviness for raw, haunting melodies, like an outlaw bluesman who took a wrong turn into the underworld.

The entire album feels like it was recorded on a haunted porch somewhere deep in the bayou and meticulously carved out on wax that holds the echos of a cave in hell, with every note soaked in whiskey, sweat, and the kind of loneliness that turns into folklore. It’s dark, it’s dreamy, and it sounds like it was made for late-night existential wanderings. So, let’s step into the fog, shall we?

My Top 3 Favorite Tracks: A Journey Through the Swamplands of the Soul

3. Waking Up Insane

My third favorite song evokes the sound of fever dreams and restless nights, filled with jittery energy. The chorus bursts like a sudden downpour, Riggs’ voice cracking under the weight of sleepless thoughts. It’s a song for nights when you stare at the ceiling and feel the pull of something just beyond the veil. This is how I felt last week when I quit smoking. You hold onto what you can in a storm.

2. Strange Television

My second favorite track creeps in like mist over still water. Riggs’ vocals are ghostly yet warm, crooning like he’s singing from the other side of a séance. There’s an eerie comfort in the melody, a lullaby sung by something with hollow eyes. It sets the tone: this isn’t just music—it’s an incantation that whispered to bring about change.

1. Otherworldly Dreamer

My absolute favorite song on this album is a hazy, melancholic hymn for the lost—a rolling dirge for the disillusioned. This song feels like staring at your reflection in swamp water—distorted, shifting, and filled with something you don’t quite recognize. Riggs’ voice takes on an almost religious quality here, like he’s singing straight into the abyss and waiting for it to answer.

Final Thoughts: Drifting Down the River Styx

Listening to If This is Hell, Then I’m Lucky feels like being lost in the kind of dream that stays with you long after you wake up. It’s eerie, it’s poetic, and it lingers as the smell of rain on old wood. Dax Riggs is a master of capturing the strange, the sorrowful, and the sublime, making this album feel less like a collection of songs and more like a journey through the shadowed corners of the soul.

So, light a candle, pour yourself something strong, and cast the spell; let this album take you downriver. Just be careful—when you reach the end, you might not be the same person who set out for answers an hour beforehand.

What are you listening to tonight?