Hellwell
Behind The Demon's Eyes

Mark Shelton has done it again.

Even after 40 years in the music scene, or rather the underground, despite his 60 years, "The Shark" doesn't seem willing to give way, to stop churning out ideas upon ideas.

A lifetime dedicated to music, with a passion that few can match, Mark Shelton has always continued his career with Manilla Road, one of the main exponents of the Epic genre, never thinking about how to increase popularity, the musical trends of the moment, without giving an inch. Many might label this choice as a wrong move, a mistake that resulted in very little fame in the genre, but personally, this is just a demonstration of having a passion and believing in it to the end without giving up, something that few are still capable of. 40 years without ever taking a break.

Besides Manilla Road, however, Mark Shelton also had numerous parallel projects, the most famous being Circus Maximus, founded by himself after the first disbanding of the Road following the release of "The Courts Of Chaos" (1990), which released their self-titled debut in '92, but was published under the name Manilla Road by the record label without Shelton's knowledge, thinking it could increase sales with the old band’s name. Also noteworthy are Riddlemaster and The Shark, both founded in the 90s while waiting for drummer Randy Fox and bassist Scott Park to resolve internal disputes that had caused Manilla Road to disband.

However, alongside these, Shelton created Hellwell in 2010, yet another secondary band that stood out from the others for its more Doom sound, and deliberately progressive musical passages. They officially debuted in 2011 with "Beyond The Boundaries Of Sin", an album that made use of keyboards, typical NWOBHM passages, and horror themes its strength.

Six years later, "Behind The Demon’s Eyes" is released, a substantial work for fans of the genre and Manilla Road in general, given the "return", if we can call it that, to the sounds of "Out Of The Abyss" (1988), a Manilla Road album that drew not a few criticisms for the almost total change of sound, from classic Heavy Metal to a more defined Thrash Metal.

These sounds can be heard in the opening track "Lightwave", where Mark reaches vocal tones close to growl, and with absolutely impeccable drumming work by Randy Fox. There are also echoes of the 80s Manilla Road sound in "The Galaxy Being",that seems to have come out of "Mystification" (1987), but fails to carve out the right space due to the poor production that covers all the work. The entire album remains focused, as with its predecessor, on horror and supernatural stories, as in "It’s Alive", which tells the process that allowed Frankenstein's monster to come to life. Special mention goes to "To Serve A Man", a track that almost reaches 17 minutes, characterized by frequent time changes, sudden accelerations, and breaks with organs, very similar to what was done on "Blood Eagle" by Manilla Road, a fantastic bass work, and a final solo by Shelton that sends shivers down your spine. I may appear too enthusiastic in this last part, but when listened to carefully, it might give you the exact same feelings.

"Behind The Demon’s Eyes" is not at all a work that can be assimilated on the first listen, decidedly difficult in some passages, and it could surprise those who are devoted to more traditional Epic. As already reported, the production does not help much in the listening process, in fact, sometimes it hinders it and there might be a need to repeat the same passage several times, but once understood, this album could surprise with the variety of styles it contains, as it did with me.

According to the writer, one of the best Epic albums of 2017.