ROCKET REVIEW: HELSTAR – “Glory of Chaos” (CD)

Texas (USA) technical speed metal legends HELSTAR follow-up 2008’s mighty The King Of Hell with this powerfully glorious collection of tracks aptly entitled: Glory of Chaos. This reviewer simply loves how the band is able to retain their classic sound yet scale to aggressive new heights that is bound to win them over some new fans for sure. You get the twin guitar attack of Larry Barragan and Rob Trevino on some seriously devastating headbangers like “Pandemonium”, “Monarch Of Bloodshed” and “Dethtrap”, showcasing the impressive Halford-like vocal prowess of James Rivera. Unfortunately, Jerry Abarca on bass does get covered up in the mix for most of the production… while drummer Mikey Lewis sounds heavy as a jackhammer piercing a hole through the base of your skull with his smoking hot peformance behind a double-bass drum kit that sounds like it was birthed from the bowels of Hell. Yes, some of the album becomes a bit too predictable, let’s face it Helstar never made it to the top of the heap – as was expected of them (they began in 1983) – and many will blame it mainly on the songwriting ultimately not being what it needs to be. All that said, I have an immense amount of respect for a group of dudes that can still throw it down so late in their careers. There’s moments where I feel it sounds too much like a Halford clone and a little bit too close to Testament for my liking, but I think Glory of Chaos is a big step in the right direction for Helstar and maybe with their next album they can get a bit more outside the box and truly live up to their potential. Glory of Chaos is certainly worthy of praise, but I dare to think of how much better this album could have been had Helstar dug deep and made more of a personal and unique musical statement. After the halfway point, I am afraid the songs start to sound the same as the ones before them. For example, track nine’s “Alma Negra” totally mimics the opening track “Angels Fall To Hell” and so that tends to lessen the musical impact. It starts to sound redundant. All in all, if you are truly a diehard fan of your ‘Metal’ going super fast for the sake of it… prepare to load up on the BPM’s with Helstar on this one – cause no matter how you slice it, these guys can still bring it at a pace that many cannot.

1. Angels Fall To Hell (5:01)
2. Pandemonium (4:24)
3. Monarch Of Bloodshed (5:15)
4. Bone Crusher (5:04)
5. Summer Of Hate (5:49)
6. Dethtrap (3:54)
7. Anger (3:53)
8. Trinity Of Heresy (4:39)
9. Alma Negra (5:41)
10. Zero One (0:56)