Nuclear Blast
2013
1. Gehennae Incendiis (Intro)
2. The Age Of Nefarious
3. The Disposer Supreme
4. Darkhangel
5. Harbinger Of Death (Race Against Time cover)
6. End Ov Days
7. Deathsquad (Instrumental)
8. Something Wicked This Way Comes
9. Faith Will Fall
10. Land Of The Living Dead
11. Deliver Us From Evil
12. A Vespertine Legacy
The debut of Hell was simply put a really fun album. It didn't take long for me to latch onto the old school riffing and fun over the top vocals and lyrical themes at all. Just a nice slice of the old school metal unappologetically shredding and wailing about Satan and such. What Hell managed to do was sound old school without just sounding like everybody else. It really is an interesting experience to hear a band from the 80s releasing their first full album. I also very much enjoyed hearing Andy Sneap playing guitar again as I loved him in Sabbat. Going into this one I was really looking forward to what this band could do following up their reunion. As good as the first album was I was wondering a bit if the band could continue to come up with new material though. After all, they basically had an almost 30 year break to come up with the last one. I'm sure they weren't hard at work the whole time, but some of that material had been kicking around for ages.
After listening to Curse And Chapter it would appear I had nothing to worry about. Hell are a band who seem to have a very good idea of who they are and what they need to do. It's unusual to hear a band come out like this with such a firmly established style that it all their own. I can already instantly recognize a Hell song and this album continues very much in the vein of the last. At the same time, none of these songs sound like rehashes. This album is loaded with high energy riffs that just make you want to headbang. The leads never really stop their assault, all while vocalist David Bower wails and snarls about some evil shit and it makes for one heavy experience that just kept my head banging. Curse And Chapter also does a good job adding some dark sounding atmosphere without letting that become the focus. This is all about shredding and making some straight up metal while just using the occult/satanic vibe for a little flavor. This just sounds like the best of the NWOBHM and I really dig it.
If you like dark, heavy straight up metal than there is absolutely no reason I can see to like this. The vocals have personality and attitude, the music is involving and energetic, and the album just never relents. If you like NWOBHM music, Mercyful Fate, Venom, Coven, etc this is a must hear. Really I think this is the kind of album that anyone into metal needs to hear. Well done guys.
Highlights: The Age Of Nefarious, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Darkhangel, End Ov Days
Rating - 4.0/5
No comments:
Post a Comment