Artist: Hellfueled
Title: Emission Of Sins
Type: Album
Label: Black Lodge

The most important man in any band is the singer in my humble opinion. He can be the one to elevate a set of mediocre musicians if they don’t quite cut the mustard, and equally so, a bad singer can ruin a decent band. It’s important therefore, that the singer has a strong identity, someone you can pick out straight away and think, ‘Oh that’s the unmistakable voice of Billy Bollocks’ or whoever. Hellfueled’s singer definitely has that. He has a voice that is indeed unmistakeable. Right from the very first note you hear him sing, there is almost no question who it is. Unfortunately for Hellfueled, that voice is Ozzy Osbourne’s. That’s no slight on Ozzy’s voice by the way, as to say something like that is tantamount to treason amongst seasoned metallers, so no, what I mean is that anyone who hears Emission Of Sin will just assume it is a new Ozzy album.

Hellfueled have a sound that is pretty much straight up heavy rock, with some bluesy and stoner undertones, and opening track ‘Where Angels Die’ grabs you by the balls from the offset. Grabs you in a nice way though, more gentle cupping rather than a big death squeeze that makes your eyes pop out. It gets your attention in a pleasant, ‘yes I’ve been here before and I like this’ kind of way. Some meaty riffs chug their way through the verses, provided by the talented Jocke Lundgren, throwing some nice hammer on’s along the way. I’ve already explained what to expect from Andy Alkman’s vocals (really think he missed a trick there and should have just called himself Azzy Alkman), but really, I can’t stress enough just how much he sounds like Ozzy, although I should point out that this is early to mid 90’s era Ozzy. ‘Am I Blind’ delivers more of the same, very radio friendly, very commercial heavy rock, and all of it very accomplished. So far as this style of rock goes, it’s of a very high quality, the drums of Kent Svensson and Henke Lohn’s bass providing a solid and dependable, if not exactly dramatic rhythm section. Things head into a slower tempo for ‘I’m The Crucifix’, opening with the sound of chanting monks, before Lundgren kicks in a nice deliberate and heavy Iommi style riff. I imagine that this is what a new Ozzy helmed Sabbath track would sound like; very Heaven & Hell as it is in its structure. ‘A Remission Of Sins’, has a great lead and a very interesting verse structure, but suffers from a weak and predictable chorus, veering dangerously into Feeder territory.

‘Save Me’ is one of the more varied tracks on here, benefiting from a great lead riff, but with a bog standard chorus, yet it’s vocally one of the more independent performances on here, all apart from the bit lifted straight out of ‘Demon Alcohol’ that is. By the time we reach ‘Lost Forever’, the initial old school charm is starting to wear a bit thin and predictable. It’s a throwaway album track essentially; a lack of variation becomes increasingly evident as it goes on. As titles go, ‘For My Family and Satan’ is a belter, and it turns out to be one of the standout efforts on here. The guitar solo in particular is a comforting throwback to another, simpler era, one which we revisit less and less these days unfortunately. ‘In Anger’ somehow has a more Scandinavian feel to it as the roots of the band start to poke through. Things tail off again through the next few tracks, but the album ends on a very strong note with ‘Moving On’, an instrumental bluesy guitar based belter of a track where Lundgren really gets to stretch his creative muscles. It’s a really welcome change, but I can’t help but feel that it would have been better placed somewhere in the middle of the album to break up the pace just a bit and add an earlier dab of innovation to maintain the interest.

I’ve got to make a note about the production here, which is absolutely perfect. Everything is crisp, clear and balanced in the mix, giving an overall sumptuous and glossy sound. Alkman’s voice, to be completely honest, is stronger than Ozzy’s, and whilst Jocke Lundgren is no Zakk Wylde or Randy Rhodes, he is a very very good guitarist. I’d like to hear him given a bit more of an opportunity to showcase himself in future though, as the songs are a bit short on solos. Overall this is a really enjoyable listen. They know what they are, and make no apologies for it. At the end of the day, not only is this a very good Hellfueled album, it could be mistaken as the best Ozzy album since Ozzmosis.

http://www.hellfueled.com
http://www.myspace.com/hellfueled

Lee Kimber

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