Hellfueled Volume One
Black Lodge 2005
By Russell Garwood
Volume One is pure feel-good, infectious, classic metal. Accessible, melodic and memorable - this all makes for a great mix. Ringing of early 80s metal, the vocals could come straight from an early Ozzy solo album. And I mean freakily so, vocalist Andy Alkman is a soundalike, if such a thing exists. The guitars are reminiscent of Zack Wylde, with a proliferation of irrepressibly cool riffs, soaring solos and plenty of feeling. The bass is and drums form a tight rhythm section, with lots of variation, keeping everything interesting. Some of the melodies and groove bring to mind stoner, another good comparison being the Spiritual Beggars.
A fine production job courtesy of Fredrik Nordström tops this all off very nicely. The eleven songs on this CD show quite a variation in both tempo and style, but all of them are totally hummable, and impressively catchy. Hence, while lacking originality, Volume One comes with two thumbs up; its just so damn fun, immediate and . cool! A must for classic metal fans, Hellfueled are well worth checking out for any lovers of the more accessible sides of metal. Only time will tell if this is a classic, but it seems to have the makings of one.
8/10
Official Black Lodge website
Official Hellfuelled website
Black Lodge 2005
By Russell Garwood
Volume One is pure feel-good, infectious, classic metal. Accessible, melodic and memorable - this all makes for a great mix. Ringing of early 80s metal, the vocals could come straight from an early Ozzy solo album. And I mean freakily so, vocalist Andy Alkman is a soundalike, if such a thing exists. The guitars are reminiscent of Zack Wylde, with a proliferation of irrepressibly cool riffs, soaring solos and plenty of feeling. The bass is and drums form a tight rhythm section, with lots of variation, keeping everything interesting. Some of the melodies and groove bring to mind stoner, another good comparison being the Spiritual Beggars.
A fine production job courtesy of Fredrik Nordström tops this all off very nicely. The eleven songs on this CD show quite a variation in both tempo and style, but all of them are totally hummable, and impressively catchy. Hence, while lacking originality, Volume One comes with two thumbs up; its just so damn fun, immediate and . cool! A must for classic metal fans, Hellfueled are well worth checking out for any lovers of the more accessible sides of metal. Only time will tell if this is a classic, but it seems to have the makings of one.
8/10
Official Black Lodge website
Official Hellfuelled website
