Human Remains

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Review: HELL “Curse & Chapter” 2013

Posted by Stargazer on January 9, 2014
Posted in: Reviews. Tagged: , , , . 1 Comment

Hell - Curse & Chapter - ArtworkReview by Mohsen Fayyazi

Band: HELL
Album: Curse & Chapter
Release Date: 2013
Label: Nuclear Blast

Tracklist:

1. Gehennae Incendiis
2. The Age Of Nefarious
3. The Disposer Supreme
4. Darkhangel
5. Harbinger Of Death
6. End Ov Days
7. Deathsquad
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

HELL is one of those bands who have been missed in the metal music industry for many long years! Obviously, in the age that record companies only cared about money, many talents would be easily ignored. But recently, with very useful help from the internet and social networks, some of those bands came back, HELL and ANVIL are two good examples of these groups. The British heavy metallers who chose a very unique name for their band, HELL, are active and getting much attention from the fans and critics now.

HELL released their timeless masterpiece album, “Human Remains” in 2011 and it was a huge success indeed. For many years I have believed that the golden age of metal, the ‘70s and ‘80s, are not repeatable and no band can reach those levels again, but HELL with “Human Remains” showed me that I was wrong. The album was perfect in all ways and that made mine and the fans’ expectations higher. With this background to live up to, the band have recently released their newest album, “Curse & Chapter” via their powerful record label Nuclear Blast. The album has twelve tracks and it was produced by Andy Sneap himself. The album also has an unusual style of naming for the songs.

“In a world devoid of divinity, only the human remains.” The album starts at the point where the previous album finished, again with an epic sounding intro with an orchestra, which has a horror style theme of music and noises in the background, such as sounds of burning wood and some people screaming. That was a good sign for me to expect another high quality metal album from HELL and honestly my heart started rocking harder. The second track is a power metal type one, as fast and powerful as the second track of “Human Remains,” ‘On Earth As It Is In Hell.’ The track is named ‘The Age Of Nefarious’ and it’s about 4 minutes of restless flames and steel. The band again used old school metal elements in a modern way and the result is great music. ‘The Disposer Supreme’ comes next and it shows the genius behind HELL’s heavy metal music writing. An arpeggio from Hell and an horrific voice who speaks “Bleeding eyes witness this evil extreme – the last Antichrist, the Disposer Supreme…” is the preamble for this track and then the true metal show begins.

Like the previous album, the signature of HELL’s music is David Bower’s voice. His skills and abilities to play with the music notes or switching from high pitch to low is absolutely amazing. In other words, he can do anything he wants with his voice. Music is more powerful than you think; in the old days, there was a musician and scientist in Iran (A.K.A. Persia) who used music for healing. Farabi healed several patients with his knowledge of music and medicine. Perhaps you feel it too, when a special piece of music makes you feel sad, happy or strange. From the first time of listening to ‘End Ov Days’ I found tears in my eyes at the 3:33 mark, when David starts screaming in a very unique style. I couldn’t even recognize what he is singing, but the music notes and his voice make me feel bloody strange. I can say that I found ‘Darkhangel’ and ‘End Ov Days’ the best work of David on this album and I am sure they will be your favourite tracks as well.

Amazing power metal and thrashy guitar riffs and adorable guitar solos are more great points of  HELL’s music. In fact, every single track from them looks like a Heavy Metal Art Exhibition to me. The band gather a chest full of treasures, by collecting and mixing remarkable old school metal riffs and solos with the new ones, in which can only be described as the work of genius. Also, I should mention Andy’s great job on mixing, mastering and producing and Kev Bower‘s arrangement of the music on the album, every part and line are arranged perfectly and the result is that HELL’s heavy metal won’t make you tired, even after 666 times of listening, with or without rest!

HELL’s newest album, “Curse & Chapter” is one of the best records of 2013 for sure, an amazing collection of heavy metal. The band used to be more NWOBHM in this album, but in my opinion and according to their music and lyrics, their style now can be named as PMBHM (Postmodern British Heavy Metal). I enjoyed every second of listening to this album, but for me, the best track is ‘End Ov Days.’ If you did not buy the album yet, I suggest you do not waste any seconds.

If “Human Remains” was watching Infernus and hearing scary voices from the distance, “Curse & Chapter” is facing the gates of Hell.

Rating: 9/10

Review: HELL “Human Remains” (2011)

Posted by Stargazer on September 18, 2013
Posted in: Reviews. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

human remainsReview by Mohsen Fayyazi
Band: HELL
Album: Human Remains
Release date: 2011
Label: Nuclear Blast

Track listing:
01. Overture: Themes From Deathsquad
02. On Earth As It Is In Hell
03. Plague and Fyre
04. The Oppressors
05. Blasphemy & The Master
06. Let Battle Commence
07. The Devil’s Deadly Weapon
08. The Quest
09. Macbeth
10. Save Us From Those Who Would Save Us
11. No Martyrs Cage

It is always hard to write about unknown phenomenon, but it is tough to write about unknown feelings. To me, writing and describing HELL’s “Human Remains” is just like writing about a Métaphysique phenomenon or feeling as I feel, very strange every time I listen to this very(yyyy) unique album. To understand exactly what I mean, just try to describe the temperature of hell.

It starts with an epic intro which is a perfect start for the album, “Overture Themes from Deathsquad” will also be a start for the strange and unknown yet familiar feeling that you will have through the whole of “Human Remains.”Your adventure in hell will continue with ‘On Earth As It is In Hell,’ which has a brain stormer riff at the beginning. This track is the best one on the album with no doubt; very heavy, fast and powerful guitar riffs and solos which are joined by the great bass and drums riffs. Every music note in this song is written and performed with absolutely perfection, but David Bower‘s voice and his unique style of singing is the most eye (ear) catching element. I do not want to compare David’s voice and style of singing with anybody else, all I can say is that he sings the notes with a very strange feeling and you will feel fear, horror, flames, burning and melting metal, along with hell in your bones and soul. The band also filmed a video for this track which hypnotized me every time I watched it, again David’s role is the most eye catching one here too.

In 1666, in a mostly dead village, pestilence and plague ruled and quarantined the whole of the land. Under the dark cloudy sky, women and children were moaning and crying and it smells of nothing but death. The worst is yet to come though…. That’s just a part of the picture that the band painted in the third track, ‘Plague and Fyre.’ In fact, it is a horror track which reminds me of the brilliant horror metal of the mighty KING DIAMOND. Actually, I can see King’s horror metal foot prints in the whole of “Human Remains.” The next track is named ‘The Oppressors’ and you will recognize that it has some themes of metal gods, ACCEPT and JUDAS PRIEST. When I listen to this track I just feel that it is JUDAS PRIEST trying to playing ACCEPT, except that I don’t think Rob Halford can do what David did in this track.

I sometimes wonder what kind of music it would be if legendaries King Diamond, Wolf Hoffmann and Arjen Anthony Lucassen teamed up to form a band. I got my answer in the HELL‘s “Human Remains” with such songs as ‘Blasphemy and the Master’,‘The Devil’s Deadly Weapon’ and ‘Save Us From Those Who Would Save Us’. The heavy tracks, ‘Let Battle Commence’ and ‘The Devil’s Deadly Weapon’ are my other favourite tracks in this strangely amazing album; two true masterpieces, pure bred heavy metal.

HELL’s music is unlimited and that’s what makes it awesome. It seems having something to say was more important to the band than being loyal to a particular genre of music. From heavy rock to progressive metal elements can be heard in this album, but of course it is mostly heavy/power metal such as what we heard from the mighty ACCEPT. I want to mention again the unique and great role of David Bower as the vocalist on this album. He sings every music note with related emotion, so much that I could see the visions and pictures of the stories behind the music, like watching a movie. He sings in higher notes most of the time, also he used the vibration technique and the result is perfectly perfect. In my opinion HELL’s vocalist, David Bower is one of the best active singers in the all genres of music!

HELL‘s “Human Remains” is a unique album in the whole of heavy metal history, presented by musicians who (in my opinion) wanted to present a new face and colour of metal music. The album is mixed, mastered and produced by Andy Sneap perfectly and it is performed by the band’s members brilliantly, I cannot imagine better than this. It’s darkly dark, heavily heavy and strangely unique, an ace of hell. “Human Remains” will make you rock, think, cry or laugh depending on your mood and soul (how dark your soul is). As my final words, I really tried to describe this album for you but honestly I must confess that I couldn’t, as there are still many invisible angles of this album that I couldn’t see or understand well. I am very much looking forward to HELL‘s upcoming album “Curse And Chapter.”

Album Rating: 9/10

 

HELL: Upcoming Album Almost Complete

Posted by aliblackdiamond on August 27, 2013
Posted in: Int. News. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

English metal band HELL have issued an update on the current state of proceedings for their highly anticipated new album, which will be the follow-up to 2011’s “Human Remains.” The following was posted on their official facebook page today:

“Final edits, additions and last few days of 2nd album instrument tracking now happening, and it’s sounding MASSIVE. Photography all complete, Dan Goldsworthy has the artwork underway, and Andy’s getting ready to start the mix. Expect an announcement from Nuclear Blast EUROPE any time soon regarding the album title. We absolutely can’t wait for you to hear this.

Why?

Because we believe that we’ve made an even better album than ‘Human Remains’……. \m/\m/\m/“

Metal Shock Finland‘s Blackdiamond recently interviewed Andy Sneap and Tim Bowler, following HELL‘s amazing performance at this years Bloodstock Festival. Check out the interview at this location.

HELL tracking

 

 

Interview With HELL: Andy Sneap, Tim Bowler; Bloodstock 2013, “We’ve got 7 songs recorded so far…It’s a darker album than before”

Posted by aliblackdiamond on August 17, 2013
Posted in: Interviews. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Interview by Ali Blackdiamond

Tim Bowler, Andy Sneap Bloodstock 2013

Tim Bowler, Andy Sneap
Bloodstock 2013

Legendary English metallers HELL began their career in 1982 and never quite achieved the recognition they so deserved back then.

But luckily the band resurrected themselves from the flames back onto the metal scene with the release of their album “Human Remains” in 2011. The album features new recordings of HELL classics from the 1980’s. Since the album’s release, HELL have gained a massive following and have played many shows throughout Europe.

The band last played at Bloodstock two years ago and made a dramatic comeback on their home soil, giving the fans one of the most memorable performances of the weekend.

Metal Shock Finland‘s Blackdiamond caught up with drummer Tim Bowler and guitarist Andy Sneap after their spectacular show on the Ronnie James Dio stage. You can read a few excerpts from the conversation and check out the interview either on the audio player or video below (the video has a little missing from the beginning):

When asked about the new HELL album being recorded, Andy stated:

“We’ve got seven songs recorded so far. I start on Monday with Dave doing vocals on those. There’s a couple of songs we’ve still got to sort out arrangements. There are four or five older songs that we’ve revamped from the ’80’s and the rest is all new stuff.”

Tim added:

“There’s some really good new stuff, it’s really exciting. It’s a darker album than we’ve done before. It’s more interesting, I think it’s just moved on.”

Andy went on to talk about the album release:

“The label are working towards November 4th. I think the album will be with them by the end of August, beginning of September. The tour [Defenders Of The Faith] starts November 6th, so the whole point is to try and get it out for that tour.”

Discussing his role as a producer, Andy said the following:

“I’ll be in the studio till 2am! I’ve always been really picky with things – back when I was playing with SABBAT I was always sat at the producers shoulder, telling him what to do and I didn’t even know what I was doing then! I think I’m a bit of a control freak to be honest.”

HELL Bloodstock 2013

HELL
Bloodstock 2013

HELL: U.K. Concert To Be Filmed For DVD Release

Posted by aliblackdiamond on October 4, 2012
Posted in: Int. News. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

Source: Blabbermouth.net 

Following the immensely successful “Human Remains” tour of 2011/2012 which saw the band gracing the stages of no less than 16 different countries across Europe and Scandinavia, legendary British occult metal act HELL has announced its only confirmed U.K. show of 2013 — on Saturday, February 23 at the Assembly Rooms, Darwin Suite, Derby. This gig will showcase the band’s biggest-ever stage production, featuring a 100-minute lunacy-fest of epic proportions — including fire-breathing, stilt-walking, a four-truss movable lighting rig, some astonishing new additions to the “Church Of Hell” stage set, along with their full-on (and previously unseen in the U.K.) firestorm and pyro show — all belted out through the biggest PA rig ever crammed into this venue. There will be a few additional surprises which are being kept under wraps.

HELL‘s concert at Assembly Rooms will see the band unveiling brand-new tracks from their forthcoming second album, and the whole show will be filmed/recorded for a live DVD release, so front-row looney-tune crowd surfers are even more welcome than usual. The venue, the Derby Assembly Rooms Darwin Suite, is the spiritual home of Midlands metal where Bloodstock all started way back in 2001. It provides the perfect combination of a big-stage production platform, but without losing the “up-close-and-personal” vibe which is so important to the band and fans alike. There will even be a special HELL beer for this event — a fabulously dark 6.66% ABV 5-malt real ale called “The Devil’s Deadly Weapon” created especially for this show by the band’s fans at the Northstar Brewing Company. This will be available at the venue both on cask and in commemorative bottles for you to take away and keep. Or drink. Support at the concert will come from WINTERFYLLETH and A THOUSAND ENEMIES, while the event will be compered by Bloodstock Open Air‘s very own Master Of Ceremonies Rob Bannister. Extremmetal‘s ace Swedish photographer Soile Siirtola will also be in residence, snapping anyone wearing a HELL shirt for inclusion on a commemorative photo wall which will appear within the DVD cover artwork.

HELL‘s last U.K. headline show attracted fans from a staggering 34 different counties of the U.K., along with a healthy scattering of overseas diehards from Ireland, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and even Brazil, so if you really want to make a night of it, the band has provided links which give a whole raft of low-cost accommodation in the area. Several of the listed hotels partner with the Derby Live organization, and offer special cheap rates (like £25 per person including full English brekkie at the Days Hotel) for gig accommodation if you mention “Derby Live” when booking.

A 10-minute video clip featuring highlights of HELL‘s July 21 performance at the Zwarte Cross festival in Lichtenvoorde, The Netherlands can be seen below.

HELL‘s latest album, “Human Remains”, entered the German Media Control chart at position No. 46.

Cited as a huge indirect influence, and as one of the true founding fathers of occult metal, HELL formed in 1982 from the carcasses of U.K. metal bands RACE AGAINST TIME and PARALEX, whose “White Lightning” EP was listed by METALLICA as a favorite, and which was subsequently included on the Lars Ulrich, Geoff Barton “NWOBHM ’79 Revisited” sampler album.

Despite over five years of constant touring, the band was cruelly overlooked by the ’80s music press, who just didn’t get it. HELL were too different, too extreme, too musically intelligent and far too thought-provoking for all but the most enlightened to understand them. The final crushing blow came when their long-awaited 1986 album deal with Mausoleum collapsed as the label went bankrupt, followed by the tragic suicide of singer/guitarist Dave Halliday in 1987. The remaining members drew a line in the sand and stopped playing overnight.

A teenage Andy Sneap was a permanent fixture on the front row of almost every show HELL played and was also taught to play guitar by Halliday. He then went on to form SABBAT and become a renowned metal producer. Upon meeting again, the remaining members of HELL — Kev Bower (guitar/keyboards), Tony Speakman (bass) and Tim Bowler (drums) — talked with Andy about re-recording the old material to release in conjunction with the old demos. With Sneap replacing Halliday on guitar and David Bower on vocals, the band has recorded 10 HELL classics from the ’80s.