Year : 1987 (Dark Symphonies Records Edition 2017)
Style : Heavy Metal , Power Metal
Country : United States
Audio : 320 kbps + scans
Size : 235 mb
Bio:
Hades is an American power metal band from New Jersey.Hades was founded back in 1978 with a constantly changing line-up. It was not until 1982 that a permanent line-up was formed with Paul Smith (vocals), Joe Casilli, Dan Lorenzo (both guitar), Anthony Vitti (bass) and Tom Coombs (drums). This line-up produced several demos and the first self-produced single Deliver Us from Evil. They also took part in the two compilations Born to Metalize (1984) and Metal Massacre VI (1985), which were still very much orientated towards the original heavy metal of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal.After various reorganisations, with only Dan Lorenzo and Tom Coombs remaining from the old line-up, the arrival of Alan Tecchio marked Hades' actual breakthrough. After another self-produced single called The Cross, the group, who were now playing speed and power metal, managed to secure a record deal with Torrid Records, a sub-label of Combat Records. The debut album Resisting Success was released there in 1987 and achieved cult status in the heavy metal scene. The European market was only served by Roadrunner Records six months later.An EP that was to follow was cancelled by the record company. The second album followed in 1988 with the programmatic title If at First You Don't Succeed..This album is also considered a heavy metal classic today. A European tour finally led to the dissolution of Hades. A headlining tour, which was amateurishly organised and hardly drew an audience, caused conflict within the band. After Hades returned to the States, they disbanded.Alan Tecchio and Dan Lorenzo then tried their hand at the metal band Non-Fiction, which released three albums between 1990 and 1996. Tecchio also sang on the album Control and Resistance for Watchtower. Tom Coombs went on tour with Doro Pesch, among others.In 1991, there was a one-off reunion show with the old line-up, which was also released on CD under the title Live on Location and contained two previously unreleased tracks. After the band members had returned to their own bands, there was another reunion in 1995. Only Jim Schulman did not take part and was replaced by former Mucky Pup bassist Scott LePage. The album Exist to Resist was largely based on old song material from 1988/89 that had never been used before. From then on, the band remained loosely together, but only rarely played live.In 1999, the fourth album $avior$elf was released, which had clear thrash influences. Metal Blade could be won as a record company. Jimmy Schulman returned to the band and a new drummer, Dave Lescinsky, was hired. The group performed at the Wacken Open Air 2000. The album The Downside was released in the same year.For the 2001 album DamNation, Billy Milano from M.O.D. was recruited as a backing vocalist, with D. D. Verni from Overkill played guest bass. Ron Lipnicki joined hades as the new drummer. It is the group's last album to date. A new song was recorded for a retrospective in 2002.Dan Lorenzo hit the headlines when he claimed to have used an unreleased vocal part by Bon Scott for his 2004 solo album Cassius King. In reality, it was merely a sample from the AC/DC cover band Overdose.
Album:
1st full length album of US heavy metal/thrash band featuring Watchtower vocalist, originally released in 1987. This 30 anniversary edition is including bonus disc containing demo tracks.I am always hesitant to give an album a score this high because there is always something you can find fault with, and even though there is very little here that I personally can criticize, plenty of people will find something they dislike about this album for whatever reason. So, I deducted a couple points, just because.To me, this has always ranked as one of the greats; the pinnacle of mid-80's speed/thrash metal, executed to perfection in every way possible. By the time they released this LP, the band had been around in some form or other for nearly nine years and gone through many changes, all that time developing and perfecting their sound. They started life as a traditional metal band but evolved into a thrash band over the years, successfully transitioning to that sound without sounding a bit forced or cheezy. (A certain Texas band made a similar transition less successfully, yet were less successful at resisting success- wrap your heads around THAT one, Hades fans, ha ha!) Basically almost everything about this album is perfect. The production brings out the blistering guitar sound and thrashy energy, the playing is spot on, top notch, with great musicianship, and the songs are almost uniquely excellent, without one single filler track. Production-wise, there are no unbalanced instruments or flaws with the mix at all. While the riffs and the playing is often very technical, they never sacrifice songcraft or catchiness merely for the sake of playing technical riffs, which was a common trap that many a "technical thrash band" would fall into as the decade progressed. ALL of these songs are catchy and flow nicely from beginning to end, even the somewhat long "Masque of the Red Death" (which I subtracted a point for being a bit too long, even though it never really gets tiresome) I will also mention the vocals; Tecchio's high register vocals are not my favorate style of singing BUT: To his credit, he pulls it off perfectly. He hits every single high note spot on, without wavering or sounding itchy, and his voice retains the power it needs to and suits the music well.What I like about this record is it's diversity. Every song is distinct, and stylistically different, without ever sounding contrived- they all just fit together. You have your blistering, balls out thrashers like opening track "The Leaders" and "Legal Tender." There are galloping midpaced riff monsters like "On to Illiad", "Night Stalker" and the aforementioned "...Red Death" and your slow, doom-ish traditional metal track "Sweet Revenge" which, although a slower track, still has an instantly memorable and very monstrously good riff throughout- it rocks, trust me. Even the ballad "The Cross" is a great song, holding a lot of power and atmosphere. This song compares favorably to the best of the Christian-themed "white doom metal" bands. I admit some may not quite buy into the pro-Jesus leanings of the lyrics; I wont criticize anyone else's beliefs here nor will I editorialize about it further- but rest assured Hades never intended to be a "Christian" band a la Stryper. And "The Cross" is a much better song, more powerful and effective than anything Stryper ever wrote.Really, the whole thing just smokes, from beginning to end, showing that they can thrash with the best of em- and outdo just about anyone with their more traditional metal songs as well. It's just a combination of great riffs, great energy, and technical playing which lifs this album above most of their contemporaries, and it really is a shame that it's title became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Line-Up:
Alan Tecchio - Vocals (1985-2002, 2010-present) - See also: Autumn Hour, Level Fields, Mike LePond's Silent Assassins, Mind's Mirrors, Heathen's Rage, ex-All Time Low, ex-Non-Fiction, ex-Seven Witches, ex-Watchtower, ex-Power
Dan Lorenzo - Guitars (1978-2002, 2010-present) - See also: Cassius King, Dan Lorenzo, Patriarchs in Black, Vessel of Light, ex-Non-Fiction, ex-The Cursed, Dukes / Lorenzo
Scott LePage - Guitars
Jimmy Schulman - Bass (1985-1993, 2000-2002, 2010-present) - See also: Cassius King, Vessel of Light, ex-Attacker, ex-Dan Lorenzo
Tom Coombs - Drums (1982-1998, 2010-present) - See also: ex-Trixter
Production:
Photography By [Pictures] – John Tecchio, Stefan Glas, Urbain Tanguy
Recorded By – Dave Blake* (tracks: 1-1 to 1-9)
Tracklist:
CD1:
01. The Leaders? 04:31
02. On to Iliad 02:58
03. Legal Tender 02:10
04. Sweet Revenge 03:52
05. Nightstalker 05:33
06. Resist $uccess 03:59
07. Widow's Mite (Chapter Eleven) 03:29
08. The Cross 03:45
09. Masque of the Red Death I. Red Death, II. The Prince's Master Plan, III. The Masquerade including the Twelfth Hour & Return of the Red Death 08:55
CD2: Bonus CD
01. Sweet Revenge (1983) 03:52
02. On to Iliad (1983) 02:58
03. Damned for the Grave (1983)
04. Nightrider (1982)
05. Demilich (1983)
06. Wrathchild (1983)
07. Rudimentary Psychosis (1983)
08. Sledgehammer Press (1985) 02:56
09. Widow's Mite (1985) 03:08
10. The Cross (1985) 03:45
11. Abode of the Dead (1982) 03:44
12. Rogues March (1982) 04:12
13. Easy Way Out (1982) 05:02
14. Gloomy Sunday (1982) 05:34
15. The Leaders? (live at Foxes, 1983) 04:54
16. The Cross (1984 version) 04:21
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