Alastor Listens To Reggae [Hazbin Hotel Fanfic]

Alastor Listens to Reggae Chapter 3: Burnin' by Bob Marley

Another day finished, another glass of rye to be had. But what to listen to while drinking this rye Alastor wondered.

The last album that Alastor had turned to hadn't been quite to his tastes. He had tried to expand his repertoire to an unknown reggae artist but had listened to something that was too spiritual by far.

Tonight he was going with a much safer bet. Something still new but something that he would almost certainly enjoy.

Well he had enjoyed Exodus by Bob Marley, so maybe another Bob Marley album would be to his liking.

With that Alastor summoned a copy of Burnin' onto his record player and set it to play.

The opening track Burnin' and Lootin' began to play. The lyrics told of oppression and brutality. On earth Alastor had always disliked those that sought to control. Though Alastor was an overlord in Hell, thus in control of others to an extent, he preferred a laissez faire approach to the souls he owned for the most part, even if he did sometimes like to have a bit of quote unquote fun with the souls who were under contract to him. So Alastor had a bit of a heart for those stuck with in situations that the initial lyrics described.

Then the lyrics began to tell of burning and looting, controversial material for a musician who has so commonly been associated with peace and love. Alastor just assymed that what he knew of Bob Marley had probably been whitewashed like so many other figures of history. Anyways the song was less of a call to violent action and more of a statement that violent action will be an inherent consequence of such oppression.

The song itself was not a whole lot to write home about. It was a fine opener, with most of its memorability coming from the subject matter rather than the music itself. Bob Marley's vocals were always nice, he had a knack for drawing the listener in. But even so short into his reggae journey Alastor had listened to much better. Still he didn't begrudge the song.

The second song was titled Duppy Conqueror, which from the very opening notes promised to take full advantage of the instrument of the organ. The lyrics were told from the perspective of someone who the system at large tried to lock up but couldn't. It continued the theme of fighting against oppression that seemed to be a through line in the album. Alastor could not figure out what the title Duppy Conqueror referred to though.

Next on the album was the smash hit Get Up, Stand Up and wow what a base line. It was a thing of beauty. And it had a chorus that all but demanded one chant alongside with. It also had great, subtle guitar playing throughout and vocals and lyrics that evolved throughout. This song had surely earned its status as one of Marley's finest.

The thought occurred to Alastor though that would not like any of the souls that he owned getting the wrong idea from this song. Whatever, the audience Bob Marley intended this for would probably never know the depths of hell. And besides Alastor at the very least tried to pursue haughty and foolhardy victims whenever possible, so it wasn't like he was going after completely oppressed people. In short, listening to a call for action for the oppressed was something that Alastor could appreciate in his own way.

After bailing on the last album for overly religious material, Alastor was happy to hear Marley take pot shots at religion at large in the lyrics, even though the song ended with praises to Jah. It was just the palette cleanser Alastor needed after the overly religious last album.

Then came a song titled Hallelujah Time. It started off with an appeal to everyone's favorite group, the children. Though Alastor couldn't help but sigh at such an overused appeal he kept listening. The song promised hope and change, which of course were in short supply in Hell, which in turn made it difficult for him to connect with the lyrical content of the song. However the vocals of the song really worked their magic, thus making the song an enjoyable experience for Alastor.

The next song was I Shot The Sherrif, the song made famous by Eric Clapton's cover of it. And maybe the cover was better, as this version began with a kind of annoying falsetto chorus. At least Bob Marley's vocals came soon after the chorus. Alastor felt that maybe the guitar was a bit cleaner in this version over Eric Clapton's version, but he couldn't really remember if that was correct.

After that was One Foundation. The song involved even more appeals to universal oneness. It had a pretty combination of organ and guitar to begin with, though Alastor couldn't help but feel that Marley had done appeals to such a oneness better, particularly with his iconic One Love.

After that middling outing came the song Pass It On. It began with some pretty electrical piano, something that Alastor was pretty sure was a rarity in the genre of Reggae, though he was still not familiar enough with the genre to say for certain. Then came a groove, particularly exemplified by the song's bass line. The main drawback to the song was that it was about the importance of having a clean conscience, which Alastor did have but not for the reasons that Bob Marley would have wanted.

The similarly titled Put It On was up next. The guitar had more of a focus in this song, which was good for Alastor because the lyrics and vocals of this song were simple praises to god. After a minute though Alastor wanted a bit more variety to this song, it felt like the same guitar and organ playing over and over again. Soon Alastor was waiting for the song to be over.

Then came Rastaman Chant, which appeared to be another repetitive song, one that continued the worst instincts of Put It On. The lyrics featured calls such as "Babylon you throne gone down," (whatever that means) and wishes to fly away to Zion. Overall Alastor was not impressed with the turn that the album had taken and hoped that it would at least end on a good note.

Finally was the closer Small Axe. The organ that opened the song was promising, even if it did eventually fade away for more of a focus on vocals and guitar playing. The lyrics consisted of more praises for Jah, which were not Alastor's cup of tea. Though he did relate to the chorus of a small axe cutting down the big tree. In his own dealings Alastor would often have to be the small axe for there were overlords with more resources than he had out there, ones he came into conflict with. But hopefully Marley was wrong in his statement that whoever digs a hole will lay in it because Alastor knew he was going to have to put a lot of people into holes for his upcoming plans.

And that concluded his listen to Burnin'. Overall Alastor preferred Exodus much more and had his concerns that the genre of Reggae was not entirely for him. Still he had found enough bright spots to keep his exploration of reggae going. So he decided to continue listening to reggae for the time being.