Hellevator
Sentenced to Hell

Swedish band Hellevator debuts with an EP called Sentenced to Hell, a conceptual creation about a mass shooting at a mall that follows the deed, the sentence and the death penalty and burial of the shooter. The band didn’t say if it was based on an actual event or a fictional, but I do know that it is not based on anything that has happened in Sweden as the death penalty is illegal here. The story is told in five tracks and about 24 minutes, the cover could probably have been a bit more exciting but the music makes up for that.

It is thrash metal of a fast and powerful kind, you could draw parallels to many classic bands of that genre, but it comes with the twist of some female guest vocals, great female gothic style vocals. Thanks to these vocal dynamics they add lots of depth to the EP and also to the concept that is being well told through the tracks, adding additional depth for those who enjoy that kind of dimension in the music. The sound is good, and the tracks varied too. I do, however think that it would benefit from a physical issue where you can read and follow the story through booklet and that kind of thing, but right now it is only released digitally but the band says that a CD is in the plans.

This is good, very good, quite fresh and interesting, it may not be fantastically new and fresh, but they do their thing that is slightly different and makes this EP feel quite interesting. The female vocal parts are many favourites on the album, but it is a strong effort all the way through. I can also add that the songs stand strong in their own right, so you don’t really need to dive down in the whole story to enjoy this one. I think these guys make a really classy entrance to the thrash metal scene; the question now is if the fans really want to embrace something that might stand out a little bit.

This should appeal both to the thrash metal fans and the more diverse music fans, there is nothing to really fault it as it works well from first to last track with enjoyable songs and great energy. I don’t really have much to be critical about with this one, I think Hellevate makes one hell of an entrance and I would say that it does not drown in the pool of mediocrity that tends to land in my mailboxes every day.

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