Some people have jobs as writers. Jobs where they get paid. These are some of the things they have said:

The Globe and Mail, March 31 '09 - "Mathias Kom and his big shaggy band from Peterborough, Ont., start this entertaining disc (Baby) with a song about a fetus planning its life in the outside world. You just know that by the tune's end the kid will want back in. Kom's wit has many other cuts to inflict upon the anatomy of melancholy. His second album is a whirl across the dance floor of doom, where everyone's trying to stave off the music's end. Kom's urban folk songs have a home-made sound that may disguise the finesse of their construction. He's our Randy Newman and Cole Porter rolled into one, with one eye on the coming apocalypse and another on the neck of his ukulele."

Winnipeg Free Press, April 4, '09 - "No fewer than 15 eclectic, eccentric individuals collaborated in birthing the band's second album, the adventurous and wholly amusing Baby. Lead singer Mathias Kom is the centre of attention with his deep-hued, Lou Reed-esque sing/speak vocals, but without a doubt the joyful cacophony reaches beyond what most bands would be satisfied with musically. Lyrically, Baby is a complete mind-fryer too. Kom and crew write extr-wordy pastiches that offer a worldview that you just don't hear anymore -- like: What would a baby be thinking just before it's born? What will actually happen the day the world ends? And if you were able to go back in time to be at The Berlin Conference in 1884, what would you really want to say? Worth a listen."

Vue Weekly, April 2, 09 - "Peterborough’s Burning Hell is back with its sophomore release, and far from just avoiding the dreaded sophomore slump, Burning Hell is bringing the party with it from Northern Ontario. Slightly more upbeat in outlook than the band’s previous album, 2008’s Happy Birthday, Baby nonetheless retains all of the wacky gallows humour that leader Mathias Kom made a name for himself with."

EXCLAIM! Magazine, Dec. 2008 - "The Burning Hell began 2008 celebrating HAPPY BIRTHDAY, their (weewerk) debut of low-key ukelele and banjo-driven baritone ballads that showcased Mathias Kom's wry wit and songwriting strength. Their celebratory circus of a live show, however, is a different beast altogether; constant cross-country touring transformed this Peterborough crew into one of the best live acts in the country."

The Globe and Mail, Feb. 22 '08 - "We're all burning, but we seldom think of putting out the fire. Peterborough, Ont.'s Mathias Kom can already see the ashes, and finds the sight both humbling and comic. His latest album is full of droll observations about the big issues of our mortal smouldering, such as the wickedness of God, the tragedy of moths and light bulbs, and the possibility of love after death. A few of his homespun songs have the macabre brio of outtakes from The Corpse Bride, while others propose a world where gentle dreamers become municipal monarchs. Several offer goodbyes for now or forever, including a closing farewell symphony in which each saluted instrument drops out in turn. Kom fears not, for his ukelele and his wit protect him, and his rumbling lazy baritone takes care of the rest of us."

Toronto Star, Jan. 08 - “Don't let Mathias Kom's doomy Leonard Cohen baritone or the brooding, skeletal folk arrangements upon which he tends to hang his words fool you – the guy's actually pretty funny. The Burning Hell's latest album, Happy Birthday, is veritably overflowing with black wit and cracked genius.”

Vue Weekly, Jan 08 – “Happy Birthday is full of anti-love songs and heartbreakingly hilarious truths . If this band doesn’t hit town soon, I’ll be forced to fly to its hometown of Peterborough—somewhere I swore I’d never go again—to see them.”

ChartAttack.com, Jan. 08 - “Moments of macabre comedy weave their way in and out of nearly every song on Happy Birthday… the kind of album we'll be throwing on the stereo as the end times draw near and we crowd into our bomb shelters to eat granola bars and have a good laugh over everything that's gone wrong with the world.”

Guelph Mercury, Feb. 08 – “Happy Birthday is a perfect balance of mirth and the morbid…every song here announces Kom as one of the finest new songwriters in Canada.”

Eye Weekly, March 5, '08 - "Whether it’s Mathias Kom on his own or backed by 13 stellar musicians animating his quirky, sardonic, parlour pop, Peterborough’s The Burning Hell put on an incredible live show. A harbinger of wonderful performances to come, Happy Birthday is generally inward and comically morbid; the title track actually includes the lyrics in its coda, “to the end of the world.” It’s more “classy circus” than “cheap funeral” though, with Kom drawing from The Magnetic Fields’ Stephin Merritt and Smog’s Bill Callahan for his own dry baritone, deceptively jaunty arrangements and skewed perspectives on life and love. There’s a demented grin accompanying “Everything You Believe Is a Lie” and a hopeless romanticism dripping through “In the Palms of Your Hands.” The Burning Hell’s people’s folk music is familiar but there’s something lively and unique coursing through Kom’s songs."

Exclaim! Magazine, Feb 08 – “With its dark humour and quirky parlour pop, Happy Birthday is a damned fine record, showcasing the sharp charm of the Burning Hell’s main man, Mathias Kom…With flashes of American iconography and old, weird folk leanings, Happy Birthday is foreign but comfortable.”

Montreal Mirror, Mar 07 - "It was with pleasure that I discovered the Burning Hell. The mostly-ukulele music and laugh-inducing lyrics of Mathias Kom stay on the good side of silly, while still maintaining that increasingly scarce sincerity.”

BeatRoute Magazine Nov 07 - "The Burning Hell is an intriguing combination of musical prowess and lyrical perversive-ness put together with a keen eye for the details. Kom manages a seemingly impossible combination of cynicism and hope recorded over the rock version of folk music instrumentation.”