Year : 2014
Style : Power Metal , Speed Metal
Country : United States
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 128 mb
Bio:
Helstar is a heavy metal band from Houston, Texas, formed in 1982.They were an influential force in the American Power metal genre emerging in the mid-80s.Helstar began with a basic metal style in 1983 with 2 demos, followed by their first studio album in 1984 titled Burning Star for Combat Records, making them label mates with Megadeth and Exodus. Struggles within the band and management issues broke apart the band line-up.[citation needed] After a year they reformed and released the Remnants of War album, also on Combat, produced by Randy Burns.In 1987 they moved to Los Angeles with another line up change, with guitarist Rob Trevino departing, and it is believed that the song "Abandon Ship", from the 1988 album A Distant Thunder, was dedicated to his departure. Along with guitarist Andre' Corbin, Frank Ferreira was an addition to drums. They signed with Metal Blade Records and recorded the A Distant Thunder album produced by Bill Metoyer. After the departure of Andre' Corbin and Frank Ferreira, Helstar regrouped again and recorded a demo but gained no interest from the labels.Shortly after, Larry Barragan left the band to pursue other interests. In 1989 the band released Nosferatu, which many fans consider their greatest album. It was based on the early Dracula film and contained spoken sound bites from the movie. Between 1990 and 1993 Helstar released a few demos that failed to receive great recognition. In 1995 Helstar released a new studio album entitled Multiples of Black, but did not achieve the quality from earlier albums and fans consider it their worst release.The members of Helstar namely James Rivera cooperated in other bands between 1993 and 2002, Seven Witches for a short time in 1993, Distant Thunder in 1995 and Destiny's End. This was a super group put together by James Riviera that released two studio albums, Breathe Deep the Dark in 1998 and Transition in 2002. Helstar went through several reunions starting in 2001. These reunions were primarily organized by James Rivera and longtime bassist Jerry Abarca.Several live albums came out of this period, but the band was unable to produce any new material. In 2006, for the first time in over 15 years, James Rivera and Larry Barragan reunited and Helstar were officially declared musically active again. Along with Abarca, Rivera and Barragan, also reunited with the Remnants of War album were guitarist Robert Trevino and Eternity Black drummer Russell De'leon. This lineup has since released Sins of the Past, "a greatest hits collection" of re-recorded songs. A new album has been released with the Remnants of War line-up in 2008 titled The King of Hell.In 2013, Helstar announced that bassist Jerry Abarca would take an extended break from the band due to a stomach related illness.Mike Lepond was tapped to take on live bass duties for upcoming shows. Helstar will release their ninth studio album This Wicked Nest on April 25, 2014
Album:
Our Texans who art in Helstar, quality be thy name! Still a ballistic barrage of heavy metal goodness but better than “Glory of Chaos,” which was better than “The King of Hell,” which was an impressive yet contemporary return from one of heavy metal’s darlings. “This Wicked Nest” is the first of the group’s reincarnation works to capture the olden intricacy of the Helstar brand by reducing the band’s incredibly aggressive thrash tendencies à la Exodus and circling back towards heavy/power metal influences that are more compositionally dynamic and wide-ranging. In a sentence, “This Wicked Nest” sounds like the muscle and bones of Helstar’s newer records juxtaposed to the mentality of the band’s early days, and once again their prominence is justified. “This Wicked Nest” is yet another impressive notch in Helstar’s belt—and the choir says, “What else is new?”While I enjoyed both “The King of Hell” and “Glory of Chaos,” this is a welcome upgrade; I’m glad “This Wicked Nest” doesn’t stall on the overt themes of those two records and that it runs on its own conceptualization. Following the latter-day formula with melodic sequences and songwriting improvements that together show more depth than the band’s recent ventures into castrating viciousness, “This Wicked Nest” supplies modern thrashers interlinking the stout elements of Helstar’s dynamic songwriting, which were mostly missing from the slay-slay-slay take on “Glory of Chaos.” The tunes are stratified with vibrant guitar parts and to a larger degree an element of variety between anthems, triggering each tune to individually format its own designs and make these songs their own enterprises.Yet incorporating a level of variety properly requires a degree of versatility, and there are few groups that have shown to be as suitably adaptable as Helstar. No problems are shown launching into customary thrash-based raids like “Defy the Swarm” and “It Has Risen,” yet simultaneously the melodic guitar lines of “Fall of Dominion” blend into the record’s texture smoothly, and at least make sense in their context. The slow riffing throughout the mid-paced “Cursed” and the guitar acrobatics of the instrumental “Isla De Las Munecas,” again, spice up the progression and represent the Helstar tribe nicely. I find the songs to be wide and complex; they’re layered with several parts, none of which halt the album’s surge or hinder the balanced attack of what “This Wicked Nest” offers.The creative avenues are augmented by the expected level of performances, which are flawless. James Rivera sounds great at his age growling and rasping and shrieking and wailing like a banshee on fire; the excellent leads and sturdy rhythm section further support Helstar’s thrash-based direction with wider compositional options. In sum, take “This Wicked Nest” as an evolution of modern Helstar—an extensive, smarter revision of the band’s work since reforming. It’s my favorite of theirs since “Nosferatu,” because “This Wicked Nest” does not rehash the past or settle for the safe path; it ends up sounding dynamic and explosive. Not bad for a bunch of old fogeys.
Line Up:
James Rivera - Vocals (1982-present) - See also: Killing Machine, Malice, Distant Thunder, ex-Destiny's End, ex-Thrasher, ex-Vigilante, Children of the Grave, ex-New Eden, ex-Seven Witches, ex-Vicious Rumors, ex-Flotsam and Jetsam (live), ex-Masters of Metal (live), ex-Agent Steel (live), ex-Bad Heaven, ex-Chaotic Order, ex-Daggers Edge, ex-Malakis Reign, ex-Denim and Leather
Larry Barragan - Guitars (1981-1995, 2006-present) - See also: Eternity Black
Robert Trevino - Guitars (1985-1987, 2006-present) - See also: Eternity Black, ex-Vigilante, ex-Daggers Edge
Jerry Abarca - Bass (1985-present) - See also: Distant Thunder (live)
Michael Lewis - Drums (2004-2006, 2010-present) - See also: Distant Thunder
Tracklist:
01. Fall of Dominion
02. Eternal Black
03. This Wicked Nest
04. Souls Cry
05. Isla de las Munecas
06. Cursed
07. It Has Risen
08. Defy the Swarm
09. Magormissabib
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