Warlock - Hellbound (1985)^{Release ID: 8028}

The 1984 debut album from Dusseldorf heavy metal outfit Warlock, entitled “Burning The Witches”, had offered a fair bit of appeal for me personally. But luckily for the band, I’m not the only one who saw something in their fairly traditional & anthemic style of heavy metal because Vertigo Records picked them up shortly afterwards & 1985’s “Hellbound” record would become Warlock’s first major label release. Of course, that brought with it a much healthier production budget which sees the record showcasing a noticeably more glossy & polished sound, although it could be argued that it’s lost a little bit of the youthful rawness that was such a feature of “Burning The Witches”. The drums are particularly heavy on the reverb & that loud electric sound that was so popular during the mid-80’s & it really does pin the album to the mid 80's which does leave it feeling a little dated. But having said that, this is a more metal sounding album than “Burning The Witches” was with everything given a little more oomph & a reduced quantity of tracks that are written around a hard rock backbone.

The production reminds me very much of the Judas Priest records from around that period actually. Perhaps that’s been further highlighted by the inclusion of several mid-paced stadium anthems that seem to be cut from the same mould that Priest had made their trademark over the previous few years too although it won’t go unnoticed that there’s also a fair bit more aggression here at times. Particularly from their blonde bombshell front-woman Doro Pesch who shows she can really scream here with a furious display of nasty metal power. She’s once again the focal point of the band, which won’t come as any shock to those that are familiar with her. The guitar solos have also been flashed up a bit with more intricacy & a shreddier feel & tone to them that once again reminds me of the Judas Priest dual guitar attack. This gives the guitarists a little more identity than they had on “Burning The Witches” which was a bit more basic in terms of composition. In fact, there’s a greater level of maturity in the song-writing & arrangements in general shown here with a better use of space & less of a reliance on clichés. The influences that Warlock draw upon haven’t changed however & you won’t struggle to pick up references to Priest, Accept & the NWOBHM.

Warlock’s debut relied very heavily on Doro to do all of the heavy lifting but the song-writing did struggle to meet the standard required to make the band stand out from the crowd & despite the extra maturity I mentioned earlier, that issue hasn’t totally been resolved here. Sure the vocals are great & Doro does everything she can to make the most of the tools at her disposal once again but there’s still a lack of genuinely classics songs here with only the title track managing to step up close to the top tier. There are a couple of weak numbers too with the majority of the material never getting above the level of gratifying & enjoyable meat & potatoes heavy metal. I think “Burning The Witches” may have offered slightly more in the way of highlights which might be why it’s generally the more highly regarded of the two but I’d also hazard to suggest that it’s low points were a little weaker than we hear on the follow-up which gives “Hellbound” a slight edge for overall consistency in my opinion. There’s not a lot in it though & if you enjoyed the first Warlock record then I don’t doubt that you’ll find plenty to enjoy on “Hellbound” too. In fact, I’d suggest that it’s the pinnacle of Warlock’s original lineup with changes in personnel coming shortly afterwards.