HELL’s second studio album, Curse And Chapter, will be released in North America on November 26th and will include a bonus DVD of six songs shot at their February 2013 show in the city of Derby, U.K. According to HELL’s vocalist David Bower, the album title is “a hellish play on words of the English saying ‘chapter and verse,’ and also a reference to a song lyric in ‘The Age Of Nefarious,’ the opening track on the record.”
One of the true founding fathers of occult metal and cited as a huge indirect influence to countless bands spanning multiple metal genres, NWOBHM band HELL formed in 1982 then disbanded in 1987 with only two demos to their name. When the three remaining original members reformed, they added guitarist & world-renowned metal producer Andy Sneap and vocalist David Bower to their line-up. Twenty-nine years after the band was founded, HELL finally released their debut album, Human Remains, in 2011.
Since their reformation, the British quintet has remained busy with festival appearances & tours in Europe and crafting new music.
"We've been working solid on the album for the last couple of months between gigs, although we've been demoing to a good standard over the last year or so,” states guitarist/producer Andy Sneap. “This time around, the album consists of around 50% old material and 50% new. We really see this as a band that’s moving forward rather than a nostalgia trip. Obviously there's a lot of history within the band, but there's also a whole world of ideas we want to get out. We have this week left tracking, four more vocals and bass to get down, two more songs of guitar and then mix. I'm super happy with how things are shaping up. It feels more like a band on this record to me than the first, which I guess is just a natural progression of everyone playing together a lot more over the last couple of years."
Concerning the lyrical content, vocalist Bower adds:
“Alongside some of our favorite themes of historical, political, and religious persecution, intolerance, and prejudice, you will find some good old-fashioned myths and legends being invoked and reinterpreted in our own inimitable way. We also have some songs in which the listener will be implicitly invited to solve the clues contained in the lyrics in order to find the meaning of the stories for themselves. Being completely aware that many people interpret things in ways that writers do not expect as a matter of course, it seemed logical to take that idea a little further.”
Watch HELL’s video for “On Earth As It Is In Hell” on YouTube: http://youtu.be/EpkuYxyYM2A
The CD & import clear vinyl LP versions of Human Remains can be ordered from the Nuclear Blast Webshop.
HELL is:
• David Bower – Vocals
• Kev Bower - Guitar & Keyboards
• Andy Sneap - Guitar
• Tony Speakman – Bass
• Tim Bowler - Drums
Visit HELL online at www.HELL-METAL-BAND.com
Like: www.facebook.com/HELLOFFICIAL
Watch: www.YouTube.com/HELL