Hell is NWOBHM! Dunno about the “real thing”, yet the UK band Hell was formed back in 1982 (yeah, I know, lots of friends believe that this particular music wave was conceived between 1979 and 1981 and I fully support their opinion), from the ashes of the bands Race Against Time and Paralex. At the time they had signed a contract with a Belgian label, however, two weeks before they started recording, the label went bankrupt and the band split around 1987.
Now, what is the key point that probably led to this rebirth? It is obvious that famous producer/musician Andy Sneap is the factor that took and shook and made it all happen. Andy Sneap (Accept, Megadeth, Kreator, Masterplan, Killswitch Engage and the catalogue is a few dozens of pages long), as a teenager, was fascinated by the band, he wouldn’t miss a single gig… Hell’s guitarist back then, Dave Halliday, was the man who taught guitar to Sneap and then young Sneap went on to form Sabbat and the rest is history…
The rest of the musicians meet again in 2008, and invite Sneap along with singer Martin Walkyier (Sabbat, Skyclad, The Clan Destined)… Martin won’t stay thus comes along David Bower, guitarist Kev Bower’s brother; David is also a stage and TV actor!
This is the team recording the album, produced by Sneap of course. NWOBHM lines, featuring a number of “eggs” for our pleasure. Vocal melodies lead to those of Warrel Dane a number of times, whilst the songs maintain the up tempo idiom characteristic. Various intervals enter, featuring narrations and choirs in Latin as well as many theatrical preludes. Dark lyrics, dealing with occult stories and paths of the sort. Tons of madness and even more pounding. As for the newcomer, the singer, he’s doing just GREat, using his skills and his voice to scream and shout and sing his NWOBHM larynx out.
