
Thrashing zombies!
-- Hellnite --
27/02/2019
Stijn Daneels

Album genres:
■ | heavy metal |
■ | Thrash Metal |
Album artists:
■ | Carlos Paolo “Paul” Belmar Nieva | Vocals, guitar |
■ | Konnor Miskiman | Bass |
■ | Ryan Payne | Drums |
Review written by Glenn “Terra Shredder” Van Bockstaele.
Hellnite is a Canadian thrash metal band formed in 2010 as Manipulator
before changing their name to Hellion and finally, in 2013, to Hellnite. This
band is the brainchild of Mexican-born guitarist Carlos Paolo “Paul” Belmar
Nieva. In 2013 the band brought out an EP called “Manipulator” (as a homage to
their original name) and this “Midnight Terrors” album is their first
full-length release, brought out by Sliptrick Records and delivered to us by
Asher Media Relations. After a brief relaxing opening tune called “Projection,”
Paul and the guys kick things off with “Phantom Force,” a nice melodic thrash
metal song with some beautiful guitar solo work from Paul although his vocals on
the album as a whole feel underwhelming. He sings in a low-energy, muttering
voice that doesn’t match the energetic riffs he produces. There’s, however, a
certain raw snarl in his voice but it isn’t coming through very well.
Fortunately, the song is wrapped up by a sweet progressive metal section.
Up next is “Spirits Prevail,” a fast and sharp thrasher, this time with
a huge emphasis on bass. A couple of sections on this track are bass-exclusive
and, like the progressive edge from the previous track, is a part of the band
that I want to hear more of in their next releases. The album’s third track is
“Beasts From The Deep,” another fast song and this time the powerful double
bass drums take the cake along with an epic series of old-school heavy metal
guitar riffs. Then comes “Thrash Of The Living Dead,” a song that feels like
coming straight out of the Bay Area region, great stuff!
Things calm down with the album’s sixth track, an instrumental
progressive and classic heavy metal inspired tune called “Darker Than Black,” featuring
both guitar and bass solos! Another fun track is the next one, “Stage On Fire,”
a song whose riffs could provoke some good old moshing, too bad the song loses
some of its momentum by the end. But Hellnite recuperates with the track “The
Necromancer,” showcasing their classic heavy metal side as well as taking some
cues from Kreator, resulting in an operatic set of epic guitar riffs and fiery
drum beats, a highlight of this release. And finally there’s the album’s title
track, a groovy thrash metal track featuring another badass bass solo section.
Nothing special compared to the other songs on this release, but still
enjoyable.
All in all, Hellnite’s debut album shows a band that has some good
things going for them. Great guitar work, inspired by both heavy, thrash and
progressive metal as well as frantic drum beats and a highly effective emphasis
on bass. If they can improve on the vocals, add extra pepper to their overall
production quality and make the songs a bit shorter, than I believe they can
evolve into one sweet retro thrash metal act! Here’s the official lyric video
for Midnight Terrors’ title track.
75/100