Hell - Curse & Chapter (2013)

It's strange and bittersweet to be reviewing this sophomore album posthumously, because at the time this one dropped, Hell had top-of-the-world potential, and they could do no wrong unless massively fucking up, which Curse & Chapter does not. While I might not have been a worshiper on the same levels as others I know, I still really enjoyed the amount of effort they put into the production and personality of their debut Human Remains. The fact that it was a reincarnated NWOBHM band, being given a fresh kickstart by a huge fan (in Andy Sneap) whose own legendary band Sabbat were pretty much the only one pimping this group through their own career, is just icing on the cake. Glorious.

As I hinted, Curse & Chapter does not disappoint, even if it doesn't possess quite the perfect set-up as its predecessor. Insane, operatically-informed heavy metal which infuses whatever aesthetics of power and thrash it desires, the material relies heavily on the vocal strength of David Bower, who just owns it once again. His frilly, shrieking, manic sounding voice is once again an instant win for the amount of character he gives it. He can snarl, growl, and freak out, then just belt out something more powerful and sustained effortlessly, and he is always bending his lines to keep each fresh and fearsome. He can also do some nice counter vocals with the backups, or the deeper sort of guttural narrative that we all know Martin Walkyier probably would have used had he stuck with the Hell reunion. Apart from his performance, the twin guitar attack of Sneap and Kev Bower is formidable, bringing a good degree of variance, between choppy and powerful chords, to acoustics, wild leads, and it all sounds fresh and modern like a lot of Sneap's studio work.

As usual, the theatrics and orchestration play an important role, used to great strength in tracks like in "The Disposer Supreme" or "Darkhangel" before they clobber you over the head with the heavy-ass, thrashing riffs, and then shift again into an almost Maiden-esque vocal harmony. This was pompous, adventurous, unapologetic heavy metal which, while carried over into the live performance, wouldn't even have required costumes because it just rubs off so well on the studio recording. Another thing I really dug about this album is that at times it reminded me of a British Nevermore...Bower's delivery is in some ways reminiscent of the great Warrell Dane, and certainly some of the more involved riffs, which is probably no surprise since Sneap worked on a lot of the Americans' albums from 2000-2011.

Curse & Chapter isn't always extremely catchy or memorable, but it's timelessness comes from how it takes command of you from the operatic opener and holds your attention as it transports you into its world of occult revelations and clerical conspiracies (see what I did there?), with a brazen, polished production and a level of identity you just weren't going to find in the old geezer British metal bands of the time. If I were Iron Maiden coming off The Final Frontier, or Judas Priest scraping together the lukewarm Redeemer of Souls, I'd be pissing down my leg when I heard this fucking band, because it might have made them irrelevant if they hadn't gotten their shit together (which, to be fair, they did). Exciting compositions, bewildering musicianship, and just the right amount of controlled chaos, it's a bloody shame that in hindsight this would be their last studio album. History repeated itself. We never got enough Hell in its original incarnation, and while they hung on for some years after touring off this material, we never enough in this one. Resquiescat in pace.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10]

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Hell - The Age of Nefarious EP (2013)

The Age of Nefarious EP is a limited run artifact that arrived around the time that Hell had really hit its heights, folks were stoked to hear the follow-up to the wildly popular 'debut' Human Remains from the reformed NWOBHM legends. It was largely a teaser, with the one title track that would be the first proper metal cut on the sophomore album, and then the rest of the this, the 'B-side', was a trio of live tracks. I'll go into "The Age of Nefarious" itself when I cover the album, but I wanted to cover the rest of this because it's not quite as disposable as one would think. In fact, the only thing limiting the quality of this is its short duration and low availability.

Because these live tunes sound AWESOME. Taken from their 2013 Bloodstock performance, they sound almost as potent as their studio versions, with the caveat that you'll get some of that live noise in between having your head spun off by the great sound. I don't know if Andy Sneap was working some of his studio magic on the live mixing board, or if he just taught someone else well, but the rhythm guitars are punchy and powerful, the perfect force to drive Dave Bower's vocals, which also sound incredible here. I've seen videos of some of their live performances, including possibly this one, and they REALLY pull it off. All three of the selections are taken from the debut, naturally, they didn't wanna give too much away from the new disc, so you're getting "On Earth As It in Hell", "Blasphemy and the Master", and their cover of "The Oppressors". Intense, fun as hell, this all reinforces the idea that Hell was this nuclear explosion of unstoppable, unique heavy/power metal.

If this had been a full length live album I'd be raving about it, but alas it's only a sampling of what might have been, and the studio tune is just a 'single' for Curse & Chapter, a format that I could care less about. But the live songs here are wonderful and I'd highly recommend watching a performance if you can find one on video, it's unlikely you'll be seeing them in person again.

Verdict: Indifference [6/10]

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Hell - Human Remains (2011)

I can first remember encountering Hell through a late 80s interview with members of the British speed/thrash legends Sabbat, in which they cited the obscure NWOBHM act as a major influence in both their stage theatrics and Martin Walkyier's charismatic approach to vocals. Some years later I was able to hear them, mildly impressed by the wanton wailing of Dave Halliday and the campy, occult lyrical aesthetics. How sweet and ironic then, that nearly 30 years after the unknowns were releasing demos, they would rebound with a new leash on life, none other than Andy Sneap himself (who was taught the guitar by the late Halliday) joining the prodigious resurrection and helping upgrade them into a modern context and contender!

Of course, with Halliday having passed away decades ago, it would prove a tall order to fill his capable shoes. Originally the plan was for Walkyier to join, and so he did for several years. This might have proven a wicked and fruitful union, even though Martin did not have the obvious range to tout as Dave. In the end, they acquired Dave Bower, a British actor, sibling to guitarist Kev Bower, and what a damned find he is! You see, it is Bower that makes or breaks Human Remains, the first studio album in the band's career. With the shrieking, quivering capacity of Warrell Dane in his prime, the savage snear of a Jon Oliva, and just about any capability within those two climes, Bower is one part air raid siren, one part Faustian caricature, and three parts metal to the bone. You don't hear a 'comeback' like this every day, especially when there's really not that much to 'comeback' from aside from a wisp-like, evasive underground legend. Against all odds, Hell has done so.

Now, there has been all manner of hype surrounding this album since the signing to Nuclear Blast and the sample/video that has been floating about, exposure largely to an entirely new audience who never had a chance to experience the band. It would be an exaggeration to claim that Human Remains is some messianic monolith lain dormant for three decades. It's not THE BEZTEST ALBUM EVAR. It's not perfection by any means. However, it is damned good fun, and you simply do not experience such personality from your garden variety bands performing in the traditional and power genres. In fact, there's a damn dearth of quality music in these fields of late, and Hell is ripe to join a boot to the come lately, fledgling retro-metalians and severely lagging power metal bigwigs straight in the arse.

It's best not to think of this as a 'new album', since the material is reworked from the band's 1982 demos and 1983 single ("Save Us From Those Who Would Save Us"). It's slathered in the same pseudo-Satanic ridicule, featuring lots of intros and interludes which King Diamond himself would be hard-pressed to out-cheese. But once you dig past the pomp and romp, you're left with the skeleton of steady quality. The modern glint of the album's production doesn't interfere with the nostalgia of the original recordings, and though Halliday might have been better at 'selling' the material, Bower is simply a far more entertaining front man. Humans Remains ranges from full-on adrenaline pumping epics like "On Earth as it is in Hell", "Let Battle Commence" and "The Quest" to more structurally diverse tracts like "The Devil's Deadly Weapon" or the finale "No Martyr's Cage", meeting the audience half-way with heavy rockers "Blasphemy and the Master" and "The Oppressors".

The band also brooks no hesitation in retaining the sheer 80s flair of tracks like "Save Us From Those Who Would Save Us", scintillating keyboard cheese intro morphed into a thrust of venom; but the incredibly polished production keeps even this fluent with the more modern sounds of a Kamelot, Evergrey, or Symphony X. I do feel like there is often an excess of silliness to be found, like the intro to "MacBeth", or that the Sneap/Bower dual melodies and the vocals too easily trump the rhythm guitar backbone in the majority of the material, but these are in no way critical flaws that parsed my enjoyment of the record, not difficult to ignore in lieu of the variety of compositions. And the lyrics! Clever, semantic, jocular: certainly an influence upon Walkyier in both Sabbat and Skyclad. Most of them, anyway (not "The Quest"). Truly, there is something here for just about everyone who deigns to label him/herself 'metalhead', whether you're in it for the twisted irony, sinister vibes or just a flat out consumption of authentic energy. Welcome to Hell. Turns out to be a pretty lively place.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10] (o mentor of my destiny)

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