HELSTAR – “The devil’s masquerade” (2025)

The news of a new album from the legendary Texans is enough to cause waves of enjoyment and anticipation. “Vampiro” was an amazing record worthy of the HELSTAR legacy and the EP “Clad in black” was another reminder that the band still got it, which made the nine year gap between “Vampiro” and “The devil’s masquerade” feel like a century, but ultimately worth the wait. Because I know for most people the name HELSTAR is tied to their historic past and releases such as “Nosferatu” and “Distant thunder”, but everything they have created after their reunion and “The king of hell”, is a treat for any US Power Metal fan out there! One would expect that after fourty years, creativity would be compromised at some point, though HELSTAR seem imprevious to the effects of time as proven by the musical onslaught that marches out of the speakers after you press play!

The backbone of the album are fast and as heavy as can be songs, making “The devil’s masquerade” feel like a hybrid between “Vampiro” and “The glory of chaos”. This more direct philosophy is reflected in the durations as well, as for the first time since “Burning star”, songs are shorter on average. Apart from the comparatively slower but still great ‘Carcass for a king’, everything else feels like being on steroids, with drummer Michael Lewis giving an amazing performance through out. Speaking of performance, it still amazes me how James Rivera can retain that range in his voice! On the title track and generally the earliers stages of the album, he uses his normal voice more which may trick you into thinking that he played it safer for the sake of live shows, but as it goes on, he throws at you every kind of screams and aggressive vocals you can think of.

Another thing that HELSTAR excel in doing recently, which is met in abundance here, is sounding more like a proper Thrash Metal band, but feeling so melodic at the same time. They nailed that analogy in ‘The black wall’ which is an uncomparable moment, that also houses a peak change in groove at some point. The undeniable highlight is ‘I am the way’ that closes the album, featuring no less than 8 (!) Texan vocalists who along with James, give one hell of a performance! It is so unique that in a sense I parallelled it with ‘Alma negra’ in terms of how mindblowing it is! Despite the speedy nature of the songs, some variety here and there, bundled with a total lack of fillers, do not allow the result to sound repetitive or stale even for a minute.

Ranking it among the albums of the post reunion era (because any comparison with the past would be totally unfair), I like it more than “Glory of chaos” and “The wicked nest”, while depending on the mood it may or may not be above “The king of hell”. That leaves us only with “Vampiro” being steadily above it, not bad right? The truth is that HELSTAR play Heavy Metal in a very unique way that for some magical reason, still holds up until today and instead of slowing down or showing signs of tireness, they return in full energy and momentum! The result? A direct album that I cannot have enough of! Definitely one of the year’s highlights, so do not miss it.

85/100

Pavlos Pavlakis   

100: Godsent

90s: Excellent

80s: Very good

70s: Good

60s: Enjoyable

50s: Uninspired

40s: Bad

0s -30s: Unlistenable