Search - HolyHell :: Holyhell

OMG! Love at first listen ...but there are shortcomings...

Andrew Hilton | East Coast, USA | 11/20/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I've been looking for more female fronted power metal/neo-classical, especially since Within Temptation and Nightwish are nowhere near releasing new material. I've listened to a number of tracks from the disc and I love what I hear. I can't wait to get my hands on the complete disc. From what I'm hearing, if you like "new" Nightwish, you'll like HolyHell. Check out their myspace page for song samples.



UPDATE: Now that I own the album and I've given it a number of thorough listenings, I have a more complete opinion of HolyHell. I love a number of tracks almost as much as some of my favorite Nightwish and Within Temptation songs. To me, this band sound like a blend of Nightwish, Symphony X and Trans-Siberian Orchestra. My biggest complaint is that an album full of Evil, Darkness and Satanistic themes wears thin quickly. It's like listening to one of many Yngwie albums of the last 15 years. I'm a big Yngwie fan, but he's stuck on a relentless song topic wheel of Vikings, Battle, Fury and Fast Cars with an occasional love song thrown in. The lyric writing of HolyHell is a bit immature or unpolished, which is odd when you compare them to European Metal bands who write in English as a second language. I'll enjoy the HolyHell album for a long while. There's a lot to like about it, but there's room for them to improve as well."

Holyhell/ featuring Joe Stump (G) Maria Breon (V) and Rhino

Nikiforos V. Skoumas | Athens Greece, Cambridge UK | 07/26/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Holyhell is a female fronted epic-neoclassical metal band and this is their debut album following the release of their single "Apocalypse" over a year ago.



Although the band relies quite a bit on atmospheric keyboards (courtesy of Francisco Palomo) and the fascinating vocals of Maria Breon,the album displays no shortage of fat guitar riffs and super solos courtesy of shred legend Joe Stump while the solid drumming of Rhino (ex Manowar) validates the band's metal identity; this line up is completed by bass player Jay Rigney.



In comparison to Stump's previous works/bands ("Reign of Terror" etc) this is nowhere near as frenetic or guitar centric as we have come to expect from the guitarist. After going through the album a couple of times it becomes clear that "holyhell" is a very focused attempt with musical performances so precise hardly leaving any room for improvisation. That is not to say however that the release falls short of double bass kicks or brilliant lead guitar work (Joe actually lays some very considerate still extensive solos which are an absolute delight to listen to over and over.



The production is impeccable, a bit too polished you might think but frankly this is more than expected from a female fronted band and probably works better in their case.



Personal favorites include "Prophecy", "Wings of light" and "Apocalypse" while "Resurrection" brings the `Sarah Brightman' sound into metal.



A very classy proposition; If you are a fan of female fronted bands, neoclassical guitar shredding or epic metal in general you should probably get this.

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