Originally written for Soundshock.com
Texan classic thrash metallers Helstar
disbanded in the mid-nineties like countless other thrash acts but, like a
phoenix, rose again in 2007. The following year, the band released their
recorded comeback ‘King of Hell’, a surprisingly vicious update on the classic
Helstar sound. Two years later, the quintet struck back with ‘Glory of Chaos’.
Larry Barragan discusses the reactions Helstar have secured and what their
future plans are at their first UK show.
‘Glory of Chaos’ is a behemoth of a record,
with Halford-esque shrieks, thick modern metal riffage, and bloodthirsty
drumming, quite a far cry from Helstar’s classic ‘Remnants of War’ or
‘Nosferatu’ releases. Did this polarise the fanbase? “The first reaction was
like ‘Wow what the hell is that?’” Larry recalls animatedly. “And now everybody
just…they love it. They’re like “That’s the heaviest album you guys have made.”
It’s been pretty good. I haven’t had any real negative reactions from the fans.
We used a lot of James’ [Rivera, vocalist] voice on this one. A lot of people
didn’t realise he could do a lot of that stuff.”
The ultra-heavy sound the band has adopted works and is a feature
signature to metal that Helstar were known for before their reunion. “I always
wanted to make ‘Glory of Chaos’ since…forever. I’ve always wanted to be heavy.
Different members of the band pull us in all different directions. I’m not
saying that’s a bad thing. We’ve never had that album where you listen to it
and you felt like you’ve been punched in the face and that’s what I wanted for
this album.” Plenty of reactivated classic acts stick to what they mastered and
became best at, perhaps slightly modernising their sound but certainly not
directly drawing influences from newer bands. Larry takes pride in stating that
Helstar are the opposite. “We’re all metal heads and we’ve never stopped
listening to metal. There’s all these influences from newer bands like Lamb of
God and Sacrifice. What we wrote, that’s the way it came out. If you go back
and listen to all the albums, we’ve never done part two of anything. It’s hard
to do. It’s hard to not repeat yourself.”
The new sound is also a fantastic way to introduce the new
generation of metal fans to Helstar, with a fresh sound as opposed to an
outdated, nostalgic one. “The fanbase has actually grown since we’ve reunited.
Last night, we played old songs and everyone was absolutely cool with it and
then we played ‘Alma Negra’ and the place went nuts. Every time we played one
of the new songs, I could tell there was different energy all of a sudden.” In
a world where bands are struggling to remain relevant or stand out in some
manner, Helstar have accomplished what they need to do with new music.
With the surge in popularity with retro thrash and heavy metal bands
emulating a sound that was commonplace in the eighties, it seems like Helstar
are taking the intrepid route by introducing new sounds, rather than
capitalising on their classic metal status and potentially catapulting
themselves into the same sphere of attention as these newer acts. Larry
believes there is a strong difference between retro acts and those who were
actually there at the time. “I think they have the knowledge of it, I don’t
know if they have the feel that these bands like Helstar and some of the other
bands that have been around. Those guys – when they write an album, it has a
certain vibe and feel and you can tell these guys are gonna be around for a
while. When you listen to those [retro metal bands], it sounds polished and
everything but maybe they don’t quite get it. You gotta have your own identity.
That’s just my biased opinion I guess.”
One of the prominent attributes as to why Helstar’s new found
heaviness is around can be attributed to new drummer Mikey Lewis. “On ‘Glory of
Chaos’, we’ve got Mikey in the band as our drummer and he understood us more
from a drum perspective than any one. I think the album sounds as heavy as it
does because of him. He made a huge change in us. It’s subtle, I don’t think
people realise when they listen to it – the drums are fucking heavy – they just
think ‘Wow, it sounds so heavy, it’s so fast.’ Actually he plays guitar too. He
wasn’t in the writing process but for the next one, for sure. He’s already said
‘I’ve got some parts. Let’s get together.’ Yeah, anything to make my job
easier.”
After this tour, Helstar plan on heading home to work on a new
release. “I’ve got parts here and there that I have on my laptop already but
not anything concrete. I’m sure Rob has a bunch of parts as well. Like I said,
Mikey has some guitar parts too so we’ll get together and start piecing
everything together.” As ‘Glory of Chaos’ was composed through emails and
recorded without the band rehearsing together, it could be that the follow up
album will be more thought out with more intricacies as Larry believes it could
be beneficial to write the album together. “I think everybody wants to get
together a little bit more and take some more time over the stuff. I like the
solos but I think if I had a little more time, I could have made the solos more
elaborate. But overall, I’m happy.”
