What we got here is a concept album about George A. Romero's zombie movies. I like those movies a lot, and the 1978 classic "Dawn of the Dead" belongs to my all-time top 5. So, these Italian thrashers Hellstorm better do it well here!

The band's, who formed in 1995, older discography, consisting of a demo from 1997, the debut full length platter 'The Legion of the Storm' from 2003 and the EP 'CorpseHunters EP' from 2010, is not at all familiar to me. When I got this in a pile of CDs from Punishment 18 Records, the ugly cover painting made me practically ignore it. I listened to a few song snippets, and just forgot the whole thing. You shouldn't judge a record by its cover, as the saying goes. So, how is it music-wise?

Sadly, it's nothing but generic thrash metal. Being mainly influenced by German styles, there still is no real life in it, simply because it's hardly memorable. The band's performance is better than average, but if the music isn't sticky at all, I'm afraid it does not survive for very long. The catchiest pieces here are fast Kreator-esque 'Corpsehunters' and mid-paced title track, which reminds of Sodom. There are influences from North America, as well as from their countrymates Necrodeath. While some of the songs follow story-like lyrics together with composition, the riffs are mostly bland or way too familiar. The outro is probably the final blow: Starting with non-distorted guitar, the lead guitar joins it. Then starts the epic instrumental song. Yes, we've heard that so many times before...

The lyrical concept has been put by the band as "the wicked mirror of human beings, the wicked mirror of past, present and future." So, this is a theme album, but not a story album. It tells tales from certain scenes from four movies. The lyrics are generally okay, especially if you enjoy the movies. The vocals are varying. There's raspy throat voice, which is something like a mixture of Sodom's Tom Angelripper and Carcass' Jeff Walker (now did I make the same comparison a while ago on some album?!). Lower grunt accompanies this, plus of course zombified utterings. I found it somewhat weird, that there are not that much movie samples, but that's probably the right choice.

So the band's performance is okay, even though the thrash screw was not turned into tightest possible. Sound is nicely old school with its echo (drums and vocals). Everything is balanced well, and the sound is airy. There is some potential here, but the band apes too much, ending up being a boring reproduction of fantastic things.

Rating: 5 (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
02/24/2013 21:55