Will Not Go Quietly

The first time I heard the name Hellion was in 1986 when a friend gave me the “Hell Comes to Your House” vinyl which was a compilation of famous (Manowar, Exciter, Metallica, Anthrax) and not so famous (Alaska, Tsunami, Loudness, Earthshaker) acts. Hellion were featured there with “Break the Spell”, an anthemic muscular heavy rocker that could sit well with both the Judas and the Omen crowd. What intrigued me the most was the cool expressive, belligerent female vocals but to find anything related to Hellion in Bulgaria in the mid-80’s was next to impossible, and after some time spent searching here and there I gave up.

It was some time in the 90’s when I suddenly came across the band’s first two full-lengths. The debut didn’t impress me much as it contained little of the overt vigour of the mentioned “Break the Spell” (not included there), with Bolleyn (real name Anne Hull) and Co. concentrating on the friendlier, more welcoming side of the metal spectre. However, instead of becoming Motley Crue’s most loyal sidekicks, the band struck much harder with the superior “The Black Book”, an attractive blend of lengthy epic power metal hymns and short blitzkrieg speedsters. That was way more like it, not to mention Bolleyn’s full support of the speed/thrash metal scene in the late-80’s/early-90’s (and beyond) with her label New Renaissance Records, the home of hordes of notable acts (Blood Feast, The Unsane, Holocross, Steel Fury, Wehrmacht, Indestroy, etc.) including early Sepultura.

That last contribution made me worship the woman, literally, but since the Hellion spell was put an end after the sophomore, the 90’s passed without her participation. And it was probably for the better as I, and I’m pretty sure quite a few others, wasn’t going to be happy seeing/hearing Bolleyn degrading herself by composing hymns to the groove. No, that never happened but she resurrected Hellion at the end of the decade, the first sign of life being the “The Witching Hour” EP, a mixture of old (the debut) and new tracks which was again more on the softer, more commercial side. Then a series of live recordings and best-of compilations followed until the album reviewed here appeared.

The band fans would be in for a surprise as this isn’t quite like anything they have cooked previously. This is a heavy slow-motion record that strictly falls within the D&B (doom & ballad) category. The title-track stirs some energy initially with bouncy dynamic rhythms, but once this is crossed off the list the album hits a heavy stride which seldom gets out of sight, either reflected in more radio-friendly but still seismic tunes (“Revenge (is Sweet)”), heavier balladic odes (“The Last Straw”), or sombre doomy processions (the excellent “Wildest Dreams”). Attempts at a more serious, progressive song-writing (“Dead and Gone”, “Dream Deceiver”) are also well noted their impact slightly diminished by the presence of several goofy frivolous rockers (“Shit”, “Duchess of Debauchery”) the latter thrown towards the end as an afterthought, but cancelled outright by the imposing doomy ballad “See You in Hell”.

Bolleyn is in top form, lyrical, belligerent, dramatic, sad, optimistic, quarrelsome… her always reliable comrade, the guitar player Ray Schenck, doesn’t slouch either, acquitting himself with an array of short but stylish effective leads. In fact, a more dexterous involvement from him isn’t required as the approach is anti-flashy and minimalistic, the band trying to win the listener with more hypnotic, not very frequently changing tunes. There’s seldom a truly monotonous moment, truth be told, but the listener will have to adjust his/her senses to this slow-burning opus which, once settling into the heavy vibe, rarely disperses the officiant setting save for the mentioned rocky fillers.

From a rock queen to a doom one… still an acceptable transformation on all counts but the “Karma's a Bitch” EP (2014) shows Bolleyn, now with an entirely new line-up, still willing to bang a few heads as the delivery has moved towards the more aggressive one of the sophomore. Well, that should do, too; we kind of prefer our favourite metal queen in a more active, restless mode… cause there’s nothing like an impetuous moshing, (non)quiet diva out there.