Hell - Human Remains
This album is a bit hard to review. The sound and production on this are slick and modern, but the songs are actually decades old. Hell was originally part of the same NWOBHM movement that spawned Angel Witch, Iron Maiden, Jaguar and even Def Leppard. They released a 7-inch EP and a demo back in the day, but they never got it together long enough to release a full-length album. Lineup problems and other issues plagued them, and ultimately the suicide of founder David Halliday in 1987 put an end to the band. Now, over twenty years later, Andy Sneap has reformed Hell as a tribute to his old friend, David. While Sneap may be known more for working in the studio, producing albums for Metal bands, he learned how to play guitar from David Halliday and he was also a huge fan of Hell’s original incarnation. The music on this LP, while sounding modern in production, is faithful to the original demo recordings. Andy plays David’s guitar parts and new vocalist, David Bower (brother of guitarist Kev Bower) has taken over the mic. If you can imagine an old NWOBHM band getting a chance to re-record their first album with today’s technology, you get an idea how this sounds. The thing that takes a bit of getting used to is Bower’s vocal delivery. He brings a certain amount of campiness to the proceedings with his overly-dramatic vocals (imagine someone singing the way William Shatner acts). It took me several listens and several days of going “old-school” (listening to nothing but old Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Angel Witch, Venom, Motorhead, etc.) before I could put Human Remains in the proper perspective. If you’re a fan of melodic Metal in the old way, this is definitely one to add to your collection. This will also appeal to fans of Heathen, Death Angel or Power Metal bands like Hammerfall.
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