Customer Reviews

Hellbound

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm giving this disc five stars because I think the overall rating needs to be brought up a bit. This was always my favorite Warlock album. If you are a first timer, imagine Accept with a female vocalist and you may get an idea of what we're talking about.

Every one of these songs is a hit. At the time in 1985, I lived in Germany and got to see Warlock at the Lorelei fest with Metallica, Venom, and a couple of other British acts. Warlock played early in the day and the German kids loved them! This album was in our constant rotation along with Metallica's "Ride the Lightning." We thought it was that good.

I had always been told that "Burning the Witches" was better, but years later when I actually found it, I was disappointed. "True As Steel" never really did it for me, either. I loved every song on this album, however. It's a raw, young, but experienced band you're hearing on this record.

After garnering some attention with their first album - a Mausoleum release, the band moved onto Phonogram and put out their second disc.

Now it should be mentioned that back in the lazy, crazy days of the mid 80s a band was not necessarily expected to make or break on their first album. In fact often it was the third release that was considered utterly pivotal, particularly with many European bands.

So bearing that in mind it comes as no surprise that Hellbound was an improvement over Burning the Witches yet not as fully realised musically as True As Steel.

It should be pointed out that I've given Burning the Witches two stars and the same with this one, but in reality this would be about 2.5 stars.

The production is a touch better and some of the tunes are a little more mature. Once again we find Doro Pesch giving it her all and her voice is coming along nicely. All the gigging must of paid off as the band sound tight and there is a little more space in the tracks allowing some of them to breath, check out the slightly slower pace for chungs of Earthshaker Rock, the band opting for a full bodied sound but not cramming notes and riffs into every little space.

Obviously though, this is still quite formative. Many of the tracks don't grab the listener. And while it has nothing to do with the music, the cod piece Doro appears to be wearing on the back cover photograph (I kid you not) is somewhat ludicrous.

But hey, if you've checked out Triumph and Agony and True As Steel and are hungry for more - and you should be after hearing those albums - then strap this on. The title track is excellent stuff, Earthshaker Rock is anthemic and Out of Control sounds exactly that.

Doro is raw, hard, and absoluetely amazing on this CD. I find it better than the other 4 Warlock Cds, which I also find to be great metal. But this one is my favorite. It doesn't matter if you are an older metal head or a new metal head. If you can appreciate the long 40 year history of metal and all its sub genres than you will love this CD,

Hellbound by Warlock is their heaviest album to date. And as a metal connisuer i know what good 80's metal is! not faster pussycat thats not metal! if you want some hard hitting metal buy this record this is the second album by Warlock and lead singer Doro pesch is really on in this one if you want to know more about warlock see my review on triumph and agony. doro pesch is the queen of metal not lita ford! although lita is a good artist. doro has kept it metal after warlock split up in the late 80's her first solo album was force majuer or something like that i havent bought it yet but its on my list. and shes still going strong, not to mention she in her mid to late 40's. I love metal and if you love metal you'll love this album.

Actually, 2.5 stars. This album is a vast improvement over the first. It holds up a bit better too, but not by much. It suffers a lot less than the first from the cliched silliness of 'Eavy Me'al at the time. "Time To Die" and "Down And Out" were so bad then, and still are now, that they must have been just leftovers from the fist album. Cliched and unimaginative even by the standards of the day. I wince at these two in particular. Cheese with much mold on it. Now that the worst has been said, on to the best...

"Wrathchild" is easily the best rocker of the album, lyrically, musically, and vocally. A culturally observant song, something said imaginatively. Song about a rebel-without-a-clue kind of person. Typical topic for all rock of course, but made in a distinctly Doro / Warlock way. The band was definitely in development sound-wise. "Catch My Heart" is a great ballad-like song, even for the early days. Very emotionally sung. Don't think Doro / Warlock has ever done a ballad I didn't like anyway. "Out Of Control" is another strong track that is simpler, but hard not like as it rocks along at a good clip. "Shout It Out" sounds really confined as a studio track. I just think it's one those songs that one goes, "Ehh, not bad. May be better Live."

The rest of the songs I think you can take or leave depending on your mood, or how busy you are as the music is playing in the background. The rest of the tracks, while not so awful, just aren't as captivating.

Strongly suggest True As Steel and Triumph And Agony. Both are a bit different in atmosphere from each other, but equally good in their own ways. Doro's new solo album is Calling The Wild, which covers White Wedding, has Lemmy from Motorhead on a couple tracks, and some solo by Slash formerly from Guns'N'Roses.

That I usually associate this album as the filler in between Burning the Witches and True as Steel underscores its limited appeal. Altogether, it is an inferior continuation of the first album, crispier in production (which is common with most band's second album) but still weakened by the general song uniformity. Earthshaker Rock and the title cut are decent songs, but the second side is largely forgettable. Overall, the album's most memorable element is that some songs feature a lengthy solo (or more accurately two, as there are two guitarists) after the second chorus with no vocal following.