Alastor Listens To Reggae [Hazbin Hotel Fanfic]

Alastor Listens To Reggae Chapter 8: Return Of Django by The Upsetters

Alastor burst into his room with excitement. He had been eagerly awaiting tonight's session of drinking rye and listening to reggae given that the previous night's album had greatly excited him. Though overly long, Buju Banton's album 'Til Siloh had excited Alastor to the potential of reggae. So Alastor couldn't wait to see what further surprises reggae held for him. He wanted more experimentation, he wanted to see the further possibilities of what reggae was capable.

So without further ado he summoned Husk to his room.

A downcast Husk instinctively took out his smartphone before asking "Is there anything specific that you're looking for?

"Oh my dear Husker, last night's album was such a treat. I want you to find something that's similarly as innovative. Something with a fresh perspective on the reggae genre. Can you do that for me?"

"I'll see what I can do," Husk sighed. After a bit of scrolling on his smartphone Husk continued with "There's something I found called Return Of Django by a group called The Upsetters. Maybe that could work."

"Well there's only one way to find out," Alastor said as he sent Husk back to his bar and summoned a copy of the record onto his record player. He then set it to play and waited in anticipation as to what sounds would come out.

The titular song, Return of Django, began the album. Why what's this? It almost sounded like a mix of his beloved jazz and reggae. Alastor squealed. Oh what a pleasant surprise this was for him. To hear his favorite genre in a reggae style was quite the treat indeed.

Beyond the innovative mix of the two genres, the song was a bit basic. It almost followed a basic blues scale verbatim. The horn playing was fun though. Hopefully this was just a warm up to even greater delights that the album had in store.

Touch Of Fire began to play next. It featured some rather low electronic organ and horn playing. Having such a low electronic organ be the main focus of the song was an interesting choice, albeit one that Alastor had some misgivings about. So he became rather relieved when the pitch of the electronic organ began to climb higher. Then it went back down again, which caused some disappointment in him. Still though, it was an interesting song. Alastor just hoped that some purely enjoyable songs awaited him on this album.

With the next song up, Cold Sweat, the album finally introduced vocals. More of a booming command than anything with a tune, the vocals quickly dissipated as an alternating between a tinkly electric piano and a brazen electronic organ became the focus of the song. Alastor enjoyed the contrast between the two instruments, with the electric piano providing staccato notes and the electronic organ favoring powerful chords and whirling pitch changes. So far it was Alastor's favorite song on the album.

Next came the song titled Drugs And Poison, which opened with a heavy strumming guitar before settling into more of a reggae groove. The organ playing was a bit more repetitive than the last song. Then there was a return to the heavy strumming. Eventually a horn section came in that Alastor quite liked. Occasionally there was some rather spectacular drum playing. Overall it was not one of his favorites but he still found some aspects worthy of enjoyment.

Soulful I was the next song. From the very beginning Alastor enjoyed the guitar and this synth thing (it sounded a bit like a theremin) playing together. Then the electric organ came in and provided a nice if simple tune. The guitar playing was complicated enough to make up for whatever over simplification there might have been in the electronic organ playing.

Then the song Night Doctor began to play. He liked the drum beat that began the song, though it's inability to expand to a greater variety of drumming began to bug him. The electric organ was doing the majority of the heavy lifting. Unfortunately it failed to find a tune that Alastor liked. He did not enjoy this song as much as the previous one.

After that came the song One Punch. It opened with some nice guitar playing alongside some other picked strings that Alastor could not identify. Then a simplistic melody began to play on the electric organ. Soon he began to get bored of the song. He hoped that the next song would provide some much needed spice or else he might have to resort to stopping this record.

Eight for Eight played afterwards. The song started with some more vocals, which sounded almost like a chant. Alastor couldn't make out what the lyrics were saying. Then there was a groovy combination of guitar and electric organ playing that Alastor rather enjoyed. Unfortunately there was one note on the electric organ that sounded like a mix between a squeak and a screech. Though he enjoyed the majority of the song, he found that solely that one note lowered his opinion of it. Still he decided to keep listening to the album.

After that came the song Live Injection. The song sounded much more purely chill. The guitar playing in particular sounded very relaxed. The song also featured some nice drum playing, though it was thankfully not showy enough to distract from the breezy tone. The whirling electric organ was also good, providing enough chaotic energy to keep things entertaining while still somehow contributing to the chill mood of the song.

Man From MI5 came next. The track began with more vocal stylings that quickly dissipated. It became a grooving track, something cool to listen. Once again the electric organ was doing a lot of the heavy lifting, though a guitar found plenty of room to contribute. It was here that Alastor began to wish that more was being done with the drums, they just kind of kept the beat. It was a fine song Alastor thought, though it was far from being great.

Then was the song Ten To Twelve. This song began by being horn led, then the electric organ became the leading instrument. Then the horn briefly returned to being the most powerful instrument in the song. Alastor wished it could have just stayed the leading instrument as the electric organ had already done so much of the heavy lifting already. There was some more shouting throughout the song, which was a nice touch.

Finally it was the last song on the album, one titled Medical Operation. This was another song that started out with the guitars being the most pertinent instrument. Though the electric organ found plenty of opportunities to contribute, the guitar remained the most prominent instrument.

As the record ended Alastor thought about what he had listened to. He had mostly enjoyed it, though the initial idea of combining reggae with jazz was better than how the album ended up being. There was a bit too much use of the electric organ and the guitar, with other instruments, particularly percussion ones, being ignored. He felt a little disappointed that his hopes for this album had not completely manifested. Nevertheless overall he enjoyed it, though he might pick something a bit more standard for his next reggae album.