Cries from the Quiet World

viernes, 7 de agosto de 2020

Helloween "Helloween (EP)"

Helloween is the debut EP by German heavy metal band Helloween. It was released in April 1985 on Noise Records.

Although it is a speed metal rather than a power metal album, the record is significant as the first effort by the group that would redefine the power metal genre. Helloween was followed up later that same year by the band's first full-length album, Walls of Jericho.

Track listing

"Starlight" Weikath/Hansen 5:17
"Murderer" Hansen 4:26
"Warrior" Hansen 4:00
"Victim of Fate" Hansen 6:37
"Cry for Freedom" Weikath/Hansen 6:02

1986 12" Picture Disc Vinyl Bonus Tracks

"Murderer" (Remix) 4:34
"Surprise Track" (White Christmas/I'll Be Your Santa Claus) 2:08

1996 Korean Bonus Tracks

"Reptile" 3:44
"Phantoms of Death" 6:34
"Oernst of Life" (Taken from the 1984 Death Metal compilation) 4:46

The "Happy Happy Halloween" intro piece from "Starlight" is taken from the 1982 film Halloween III: Season of the Witch
The surprise track on the picture disc re-release features vocalist Michael Kiske, which is his first recording with Helloween. The EP was released in December 1986 in conjunction to his introduction in the band. The "White Christmas" piece features Kiske, Michael Weikath and Kai Hansen on vocals, while the "I'll Be Your Santa Claus" piece features only Kiske on vocals
A 1997 unofficial cassette release by Moon Records titles the album as Judas with a different album cover, and features the songs "How Many Tears", "Perfect Gentleman" and "Steel Tormentor"
A 1998 unofficial CD release by Agat Company contains the 1996 single Power
A 2017 Malaysian CD release features the songs "Don't Run for Cover" and "Judas"

Recorded January – February 1985 at Musiclab Studio, Berlin, Germany

Produced by Helloween

Engineered and mixed by Harris Johns (who also contributes the devil laugh on "Victim of Fate")

Cover design by Uwe Karczewski, Hamburg, Germany

Heavens Edge "Heavens Edge (Japan, CBS-Sony Records, CSCS 5183)"

Heavens Edge are a metal band from Philadelphia active in the late eighties and early 1990s. The band reunited with all original members in 2013 and has played occasional shows since then.

Heavens Edge formed in 1987 in Philadelphia and was founded by guitarist Reggie Wu and singer Mark Evans. The band went through several guitar player changes in its earlier days. Heaven's Edge released 2 albums: Heavens Edge (1990) for Columbia Records, that reached number 141 on The Billboard 200, and Some Other Place Some Other Time (1999) on MTM. Heavens Edge was produced by Neil Kernon. The band released a music video for their most popular single, "Skin To Skin".

Track list:

Intro イントロ 1:26
Play Dirty プレイ・ダーティ 4:31
Skin To Skin スキン・トゥ・スキン 3:22
Find Another Way ファインド・アナザー・ウェイ 5:06
Up Against The Wall アップ・アゲインスト・ザ・ウォール 3:32
Hold On To Tonight ホールド・オン・トゥ・トゥナイト 6:15
Can't Catch Me キャント・キャッチ・ミー 4:31
Bad Reputation バッド・レピュテイション 6:42
Daddy's Little Girl ダディーズ・リトル・ガール 4:33
Is That All You Want? イズ・ザット・オール・ユー・ウォント? 5:54
Come Play The Game カム・プレイ・ザ・ゲーム 4:04
Don't Stop, Don't Go ドント・ストップ、ドント・ゴー 4:50

"Is That All You Want" Recorded live by Joe Alexander at The Empire Rock Club, Philadelphia, PA, September 17, 1989. Mobile facility by David Hewitt for Remote Recording Services, Inc.

Comes in a standard jewel case with obi and includes a 16 page booklet with liner notes Japanese/English track list, Japanese commentary, and lyrics translated into Japanese.

The commentary is credited as: 90.4.3 伊藤政則-MASA-ITOH

Recording information:

Produced, recorded & mixed by Neil Kernon

Hades Almighty/Drudkh "Той, хто говорить з імлою (One Who Talks with the Fog) / Pyre Era, Black! (Split)"

Той, хто говорить з імлою (One Who Talks with the Fog) / Pyre Era, Black! is a split album from Norwegian band Hades Almighty and Ukrainian band Drudkh, released June 3rd 2016.

Track list:

Drudkh - Золотий кінь (Golden Horse) 08:49
Drudkh - Вогняний змій (Fiery Serpent) 08:46
Hades Almighty - Pyre Era, Black! 04:18
Hades Almighty - Funeral Storm 06:37
Hades Almighty - Bound 08:53

Total time: 37:23

Lyrics of Ukrainian poet Володимир Свідзинський were used on this album:

- Tracks 1-2: "Темними ріками (балада III)", 1932.

Cover illustration by Эдуард Новиков from the book "Вий", 2009.

Recording information:

Drudkh tracks:

Recorded in December 2015 at ViTeR Music, Kharkiv, Ukraine.

Hades Almighty tracks:

Drums recorded in Subsunflow Studios.

Vocals recorded in Arkivet.

Guitars & bass recorded in The Horde Studio.

Additional recordings done in Soundsuite Studios.

Hades Almighty "The Pulse Of Decay"

The Pulse Of Decay is Hades Almighty's last studio album.

Sputnik Music writes in a review:

"On their early albums Hades Almighty played Viking black metal similar to bands like Enslaved or early Satyricon. With this release they completely change their style to where they sound nothing like they used to. On The Pulse of Decay, the band plays experimental black metal. They mix their usual black metal style with elements of industrial, ambient, and doom metal. The guitarists play a couple different styles. They're either playing the fast black metal tremolo picking, slow doom riffs, or very technical riffs. Not tech death style technical, but technical enough for a black metal album. The bass is surprisinly audible on this album as well. This is obviously very odd for black metal and to tell you the truth I really don't know how to describe the bass very well because it's usually inaudible on most albums I listen to. Drumming on this album is handled by a man named Remi Andersen and his style of drumming also not your typical black metal style. There are almost no blast beats on this album and while they are present, they're not the main style like on most black metal albums. The drumming is pretty fast, but not in the form of blast beats. While the more slow, doomy parts are going the drummer does a great job of keeping the pace of the song. This is album is also kind of melodic. Keyboards are present throughout the album, and while they're not a main focus, you can tell they are there and they keep this album feeling very melodic and not just like another black metal album."

Track listing