I found this for 3 Euros in one distribution and thought; "hell, they're from Poland so they can't be bad and they have a song called 'Scepter of the Tomblord', which can't be a sign of a mediocre band." Yep, 'The Call of Megiddo' is my first aural contact with Hell-Born. And still the only one, but not because if the band sucks or anything like that. Just haven't got two other albums yet (this is the 2nd full length one).

"Hell fuckin' metal"! Well, I couldn't come up with anything better myself. Hell-Born is a mixture of brutal metal styles: death, thrash and black. Death metal is the basis and thrash metal plays quite a big part, too, but only a pinch of black metal. Which is fine by me. I think Hell-Born have managed to do it by valuing the traditions yet making it sound like themselves. Hell-Born go for it a straight way. Gladly they have the riffs and the performance smells sweat. When it feels a song needs a turn, it surely happens. So, it's straight stuff, but still interesting. The music has different atmospheres, eg. battle, evil or sadness. 35 minute duration is enough, because there's not that much happening. Hell-Born's metal is mid-paced or fast. Downtuned guitars add to the heaviness created by double bass drum beats and low bass sound. Oh, and cool memorable solos deserve to be mentioned! I don't think it is wise to throw any band names now, just let me tell you, that if this doesn't make you band yer head and fists, you are not a metalhead. And remember, they come from Poland.

The sound is heavy and raw, there's not much else to it. Maybe it is a bit rushed job, but that's always better than anything too polished when thinking about this style of metal. The lyrics are old hat. Hell-Born's vocabulary consists of "hells", "daemons", "deaths", "curses" and "the ends". You know the stuff. Plus growls of "six-six-six" of course. Vocals remind me of late The Crown's Johan Lindstrand at times, and basically it's nothing but growling. Computerized cover artwork looks ancient, and I do not mean in a good way. Too artificial or something.

If you think you're a metalhead, try this. If you're an old school metalhead, I think you'll enjoy 'The Call of Megiddo'. I might even bet you'll enjoy it.

Rating: 7½ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
11/07/2004 19:18