HELVETETS PORT – Exodus To Hell

The old gods of NWOBHM can now be truly proud of their third generation Metalheads, their pride comes in the form of this young Swedish band, who decided to be true to the ones who created Heavy Metal back in the early 70’s.

Helvetets Port, in English, Hell’s Gate, is a group of young folks led by their dominant leader, Tomas “Witchfinder” Ericson. Since 2000, they have been following a role, which they took upon themselves, to show the constantly developing Metal world how to create true, old rooted Heavy Metal – that is, of course, in the British way. Unlike their fellow compatriots, Enforcer, who also produce NWOBHM but with speed and even a thrashier approach, Helvetets chose to bring back the old roots that ruled the worldwide Metal scene back in 1980-1983. In addition, like many of the short-lived acts back then in the UK, they took many of their obscurities to make sure that their music won’t be too dry.

As far as the music goes, every true Metalhead, both young and old, can easily recognize the old Iron Maiden tunes and small melodic segments from the first two albums. Also you will find various reminders of Heavy Load, Witchfinder General and almost every possible NWOBHM act that lasted between 1980-1983 , and if you have a great knowledge of the old scene, you know that there were tons of acts.

The music is not challenging like the old Maiden, which tried to be more complex than any of the other groups in their early period, however, you will see that the guys put up efforts to make the music more interesting and the majority of the songs clearly present this effort. The band also matched their music with a vintage and colorful sound in order to establish a harmony, which abides by their old music influence. Their ways were by doing it the Marshall way and using a producer who knows the job, however young he is and that engineer is the lead singer of Enforcer, Olof Wikstrand. The outcome from all these ingredients is flowing and simple to enjoy melodic British steel music from the, never to be forgotten, days of the early 80s.

Highlights from this one: “The Shogun” which is very similar to Martyr’s and Tokyo Blade’s type of song, a very nice story of a young Samurai.

“Killers In The Sand” is galloping through the plains and reminds of awesome years that many of us Metalheads surely miss. This one is a bit obscure yet turns out to be a hell of a listen..

The flagship song is a speedy self-titled, “Helvetets Port”, with a catchy chorus that brings out the band’s English name. “Diamond Claw” reminds everyone why this Heavy Metal sound is so great and how it’s able to take one farther if you let your mind go.

“Exodus To Hell” can be recognized as the band’s story since their beginning and why they enjoy what they do – Heavy Metal is the door. In addition to the great tracks the band produced two more tracks in Swedish, which their quality doesn’t fall from the others, take notice.

Now it’s up to you – go fetch your old leather jacket, raise the English flag and listen to history being preserved. Helvetets Port tells you Metalheads that history should be embraced.