
Melodies from heaven, growls from hell
-- Hell's Guardian --
02/02/2019
Stijn Daneels

Album genres:
■ | Melodic death metal |
Album artists:
■ | Cesare Damiolini | Vocals, guitar |
■ | Freddie Formis | Guitar |
■ | Claudio Cor | Bass |
■ | Dylan Formis | Drums |
Review written by Glenn Van Bockstaele.
Hell’s Guardian is an Italian melodic death metal band formed in 2009.
“As Above So Below” is their second studio album, distributed by the Record
Union (from Sweden) and sent us by German promoter Metalmessage Global PR.
Thanks a lot, folks! The release kicks off with “Over The Line,” a gentle
symphonic warm up with piano and violin before it ventures into “Crystal Door,”
a melodic death metal track spiced up with a lot of orchestral elements such as
choir chants and the aforementioned violins. Up next is the album’s title
track, similar to the preceding song but a bit faster paced (in particular the
track’s soaring guitar riffs and galloping drum beats are awesome) and this
time having vocalist Cesare smoothly transitioning between clean singing and grunting.
Then comes the track “Blood Must Have Blood,” with a bigger emphasis on
keyboards alongside another series of grunts and clean vocals singing in duet
and of course the always epic guitar melodies. The song as a whole would also
fit very well in a classic Castlevania videogame.
Up next is a short, relaxing piano intermission called “Waiting… For
Nothing,” before the band swings back to their typically orchestral melodic
death metal sound in the song “90 Days.” It’s the longest track on the album
and one that beautifully shows off the large but effective contrast between
Cesare’s brutal vocals and Dylan’s pounding drum beats on one side and the
peaceful, heroic guitar and symphonic melodies on the other side. Then comes “Lake
Of Blood,” a track similar to “Blood Must Have Blood” because of its frequent
keyboard use and once again that old-school Castlevania feel comes to mind. The
album’s eighth track, “Jester Smile,” is one of my favorite tunes on the
release. It’s such an epic song, with the guitar riffs soaring through the
skies accompanied by the keyboards playing in the background and the grunts and
clean vocals roaring side by side throughout this raw spectacle.
Up next is a slower, more intimate track called “My Guide My Hunger,” featuring
guest vocals from Adrienne Cowan (vocalist from power metal band Light
& Shade as well as symphonic metal band Seven Spires) and Marco Pastorino
(vocalist from progressive metal band Virtual Symmetry and melodic heavy metal
band Temperance) and I’ve got to say both guest vocalists do an excellent job
in making this one of the album’s stand-out tracks because of their very
different vocal styles nicely complementing one another. Then comes the song “I
Rise Up,” an orchestral song with epic choir chants and even a slight doom
metal edge (specifically in the opening and ending parts). Finally the album
wraps up with “Colorful Dreams,” one final cinematic melodic death metal track
wherein the drums and keyboards play alongside each other in a frantic pace.
Simply put, I had a blast shredding my way through this album. At their
core, Hell’s Guardian is a competent melodic death metal band but the extra
orchestral elements and the mix of both clean and harsh vocals both help in
bringing Hell’s Guardian style to a much higher level. Their second release is
one album I can certainly recommend to both death and symphonic metal lovers.
Now check out the band’s music video for the “Crystal Door” track!
90/100