Featuring members associated with acts from Elvenking, Secret Sphere, Eternal Idol, and Archon Angel to name but a few, Hell in the Club channels a love of melodic hard rock and straightforward heavy metal in terms of their material. Releasing five albums to date, this five-song EP Kamikaze – 10 Years in the Slums mixes up newer material, special covers, and a reinterpretation of a song originally released as a Japanese bonus track from their debut album Let the Games Begin. Although the plan was to release this as a 10th anniversary celebration last year, the pandemic (and vinyl wait times) pushed this back a year – but it’s still a worthy outing for those ardent followers of the quartet.
The newest material “Kamikaze” and “10 Years in the Slums” contains a lot of 80’s trademarks in terms of ear-pleasing guitar riffs, straightforward pounding four on the floor tempos, plus larger than life arena sized vocal harmonies in all the key passages. The former has a circular refrain that mirrors “Wild Child” from W.A.S.P., while the crunchy driving musical components, calmer drum filled transition and soaring vocals from Dave (aka Davide Moras) evoke aspects of Leatherwolf and TNT on the latter. Alice Cooper and W.A.S.P. covers come into focus next – “He’s Back (The Man Behind the Mask)” a hit during the Friday the 13th franchise, the pulsating keyboards and mid-tempo delivery tremendous, while “Chainsaw Charlie” comes from The Crimson Idol, an underrated effort that allowed W.A.S.P. longevity during the 90’s and beyond. The concluding track “In Your Eyes” displays a softer, reflective side of the band – the acoustic guitars and bass along with supplementary orchestration giving the melodies and hooks extra dynamic appeal, the lengthier lead break from Andrea ‘Picco’ Piccardi horns worthy in the guitar hero mold.
Very fun material that’s meant to be the life of the party, Hell in the Club stride into their second decade of existence intent on delivering material that should make you feel good.