
Thrashing blood with progressive power
-- West of Hell --
20/02/2020
Stijn Daneels

Album genres:
■ | Thrash Metal |
■ | Power metal |
■ | Progressive Metal |
Album artists:
■ | Chris ''The Heathen'' Valagao | Vocals |
■ | Sean Parkinson | Guitars |
■ | Kris Shulz | Guitars |
■ | Jordan Kemp | Bass |
■ | Andrew Hulme | Drums |
Review written by Glenn “Terra Shredder” Van Bockstaele.
West of Hell is a Canadian thrash/power metal band founded in New
Zealand in 2002 but who relocated to Canada in 2009. In 2012 their debut album “Spiral
Empire” finally saw the light of day and another 7 years later the band
remerged with their second album “Blood of the Infidel.” Released independently
but the band was mentioned to us multiple times by Asher Media Relations and
the band will also be featured in the upcoming 17th compilation album from our Brazilian
friends of Imperative Music (alongside the likes of Ross the Boss, Armored Dawn,
Atrocity and several other worldwide metal bands).
West of Hell’s sound is a huge mixture of thrash and power metal with
additional influences from death and progressive metal. For instance, the
opening track “Hammer and Hand” features melodic thrash riffs with a catchy
power chorus, high-pitched clean vocals and vicious shrieking and progressive
guitar sections, all in the same 6-minute track. Things get more thrash with “Chrome
Eternal” but the lengthy prog-parts and operatic vocals remain. The album’s
third track, “Infidels,” is significantly faster and actually has some
similarities to Anthrax iconic anthem “Indians,” especially in the chorus.
Next up is “The Machine,” a more classic power metal song with sci-fi
themes and powerful vocals along with some growls and blast beats but then
comes the 9-minute long “Dying Tomorrow,” without a doubt this album’s magnum
opus! It features soothing acoustic guitars, epic electric guitars, galloping
beats, crisp bass, clean and grunt vocals. It’s a versatile track with a classic
progressive metal style, just like the next song, “The Dark Turn.” Eventually
the album ends with the powerful “Mankind Commands,” another thrash & power
prog-mix with some of the most beautiful guitar solos on the album.
What makes West of Hell’s second album stand out the most is the overall
variety of its 7 songs with some songs focusing more on thrash metal beats while
others more on classic metal riffs or catchy power metal lyrics. The album isn’t
overly bombastic and features great clean and harsh vocals (Chris is
particularly proficient with the high notes), excellent guitar work from Sean
and Kriz, scorching bass from Jordan and well-rounded drums by Andrew. The
album never bored me despite the lengthy songs and I’m looking forward to hear
more from West of Hell, let’s just hope it won’t take them another 7 years to
make a sequel!
West of Hell’s “Blood of the Infidel” is a successful threesome of
thrash, progressive and power metal that’s more than enjoyable to every fan of
those aforementioned subgenres! Horns in the air! Here’s “Hammer and Hand!”
80/100