Even though new genres are always being invented, there are always plenty of bands who cannot suppress their urge to experiment and hypes follow each other in quick succession, fortunately there are also plenty of bands who want nothing to do with any of that. Those bands who seem not to have realised that the 80’s ended some 35 years ago. One such band is the Italian Hellcrash, although they never experienced the 80’s themselves, judging by their musical antics you wouldn’t say so. In recent years, this trio has released two very enjoyable records from which their adoration for Motörhead, Venom, Bathory and old Slayer oozes. And since we here share that love for 80’s metal, we invited singer/guitarist Hellraiser for a closer look….
Hi there and welcome to The Whispering Darkness. Let’s just start with the very beginning of Hellcrash, you are currently celebrating your 10 th anniversary. A decade in which you presented the world with a few smaller releases (demo’s and splits) as well as two full-length albums. How do you look back at these first years? Anything that you regard as a highlight in particular?
When we made the first demo Ready to Burn in Hell, we basically did it for ourselves. Nobody around our area was into what we were doing, we couldn’t even find a drummer and playing live was obviously out of the question, so the initial excitement died out quickly, up until the infamous split with the most famous dead band in the world, Forces.
Shortly after that we found our first stable drummer, L.S. Nightkiller, had our first live gigs, recorded the second demo Heavy Metal Inferno and what was supposed to be our first album Hell and Blasphemy, which was never released because we didn’t like the final result (and we still don’t). Not the wisest choice in retrospect, because we shortly became some kind of “phantom” band that everybody in our circle knew about but never did anything relevant.
Then we went almost radio silent for a couple of years, with sporadic live appearences in our area and some demo songs randomly popping up on youtube ( some of you may remember a very early version of Graveripper from around this time), but we were still rehearsing regularly until we sacked the drummer mid-2018, only to get him again exactly one year later.
In september 2019 we did our “comeback” show and we spent the following months gathering songs for Krvcifix Invertor, the rest is recent history.
Your music feels like a DeLorean ride to the 80’s, a totally authentic tribute to bands like early Slayer and Venom, some Bulldozer, Fingernails, Baphomet’s Blood, Onslaught, alright, even a deaf man would agree. But the three of you haven’t got much experience in previous bands, at least if the “almighty” Encyclopaedia Metallum is serving me with the right information, does this mean that this sort of metal has always been your very first choice?
Actually we had a black metal project in the vein of Darkthrone/Mayhem 2 years before forming Hellcrash, we were both 13 at the time. We even made a 4 tracks demo which cointained a raw version of what then became the synth intro and outro to Demonic Assassination.
Then of course we discovered Venom and I clearly remember it was like finding something from another universe, they felt like listening to something coming from prehistorical or medieval times, like forbidden music. It’s hard to explain but to my ears they sounded so different from anything else yet so obvious and familiar, and that’s when I decided I wanted to play just THAT.
And to this day, it still is pretty much the only genre I’ve played, I don’t think I could come up with anything remotely interesting if I tried to do something else.
Then of course there’s more to our music than just Venom, we’ve added more elements along the way, but the atmosphere I try to convey with Hellcrash is still exactly what I mentioned above.
What I found particularly remarkable while listening to your music is its surprisingly consistency. Obviously, Venom and the likes are not quite the most experimental or progressive, but the level of your song writing and the way you execute it is its steady quality. From the point of view of a non-musician like me, it seems quite a feat to create a catchy banger every time from a fairly limited musical palette. Can you tell us something about the creative process of an average Hellcrash song?
You know I don’t wanna play “extreme elevator music”, if a song is not catchy/does not stand out it should not make it to the record in the first place.
Being a genre band does not mean you can just come up with a collection of mashed up “stylistically correct” riffs and call it an album, there should be a strong idea behind each song, otherwise I’m gonna get bored quickly, so yeah, what I try to do is capturing the kind of vibe/atmosphere I felt when I first started listening to bands like Venom or Bulldozer in my early teens.
But it’s not something you can do on command, I never sat down and decided I wanted to write a song, it’s always been ideas popping in my head when I’m driving or doing something else, then I hum the riff into my phone recorder and try to play it on the guitar when I get home. But again, if it’s a good one it will just keep playing in my head and I won’t even need to hear the recording, and usually only the songs that pass this test make the cut. Of course in the past I came up with my fair share of bullshit songs but now I try to avoid it completely.
Funnily enough, while I was on the Miscreance/Suppression tour as a roadie, my phone cointaining hours of bullshit riffs completely disintegrated and I lost ’em all, so the tracks we’re working on right now are only the ones I remembered, so we’re sure it’s just killer stuff. Next time I’ll do it on purpose because it works so well.
Picking up on the previous question, your latest album, Demonic Assassinatiön was released earlier this year as a follow-up to 2021 Krvcifix Invertör;. What do you think is the biggest difference between the two albums?
I think Demonic Assassination is nothing more than the natural continuation to Krvcifix Invertör. The only real difference is the better sound quality, the tightness and the ludicrous speed we played this one at.
One could say the second one has a bit more of a Heavy Metal tinge to it but in reality the HM element has been present since our very first demo, this time it’s just more evident because of the brighter guitar sound. Also the more black-ish elements were there, if anyone remembers the song “Mayhemic Destruction”.
I mean, our first album came out 8 years after we formed, so our sound was already established, there’s never been room for any real change; we’ve had what I call our “Motorhead phase” in 2015/2016, heavily displayed in the Heavy Metal Inferno demo and in the unreleased Hell and Blasphemy album, but yeah, it’s always been us in the end.
Then of course the songwriting gets better every time, and again, the new songs that will end up on the third album really feel like combining everything we’ve done so far but more cohesive and taken to the next level under every aspect. Our intention is to craft the ultimate Hellcrash record this time, we’re definitely going full circle with the new songs.
Except for the two self-released demos and the split CD with Forces (on Red Wine Rites Records), all released in the first two years of your existence, you have been supported by Florian Grill’s great Dying Victims Productions. I have known him ever since the mid 00’s as one of the most dedicated souls that supports “the real” Thrash and Heavy Metal. So, to me it is not a surprise that he also had his eye on Hellcrash. Can you reflect on your encounter and collaboration so far?
It’s been great. I mean, who else would release records with those cover artworks? I admire the audacity hahah. Joking aside, DVP is the best Heavy Metal label in Europe, it has a excellent distribution and it really pushed us beyond our expectations.
Judging by what you guys manage to capture on record, I’m guessing that musically we will have quite a lot of overlap in our personal tastes. So I’m very curious, what have you guys had on the turntable recently? Or maybe bought recently?
More Motörhead than usual, Venom – The Waste Lands, Necrodeath – Fragments of Insanity, Turbo – Kawaleria Szatana and Cities – Annihilation Absolute.
As for new stuff, Cruel Force – Dawn of the Axe is my pick, excellent stuff.
Okay, while we’re on this tour I’ll throw in another cliché question. Suppose you are dropped on a desert island in true Napoleonic fashion and you are allowed to take five records with you. Which ones will they be and why?
- Venom – Black Metal: No need to explain. There was a time when I would listen to this album 10 times a day.
- Bulldozer – The Day of Wrath: Best Italian album of all times, every genre.
- Slayer – Show no Mercy: What I think about every time someone mentions the word “Metal”.
- Iron Maiden – The Number of the Beast: My favourite is actually Piece of Mind, but TNOTB was the first Heavy Metal record I ever bought.
- Iron Angel – Hellish Crossfire: Not as “personal” as the ones I mentioned above, but I always find myself reaching for this one when I don’t know what to listen to, and this never fails to scratch the itch, so I think it deserves a mention.
Similarly I could have mentioned Razor – Executioner’s Song, Vampyr – Cry out for Metal, Vectom – Speed Revolution, Piledriver – Metal Inquisition, Exorcist – Nightmare Theatre, Exciter – Violence and Force, Destructor – Maximum Destruction… you know, that kind of album. Or anything from Baphomet’s Blood, the best italian band ever.
Opinions differ quite a bit about the Italian metal scene, the outsider likes to label it as an interesting scene with plenty of good Black Metal, Speed/Thrash Metal, Death Metal and Doom Metal bands. But Italian musicians themselves are often still somewhat critical. How do you yourself view your homeland’s scene?
Pretty much dead right now. Of course there’s a fair amount of good bands, but how long can it last? I’m still waiting to see teenagers playing this genre in Italy. I mean, if at 26 we’re still the youngest in many occasions, there’s a problem.
In autumn 2023 you went on a great 15-day tour taking Hellcrash past 9 countries. How did that all go? Can you share us some highlights? I suppose the final date at the Total Satan Festival with Impaled Nazarene was one of the highlights?
The tour went down amazingly (and surprisingly smooth despite some troubles with the ferries while heading to Denmark) and I realized I can only function properly when I’m on the road; when we got home I felt miserable for a couple of weeks, but maybe that’s just alcohol withdrawal.
If I had to pick a highlight it would be Copenhagen. Sold out show, great venue, loudest and craziest crowd we’ve ever played to.
We got to Turin after two sleepless nights and ready to be mummified, which is the best state of mind to watch Impaled Nazarene. Lets’ fucking die!
Apart from that tour, are there any other things we can expect from Hellcrash in the (near) future?
We’re stirring the cauldron for the next chapter. In the meantime, we’re playing a handful of gigs around Italy and Germany in March/April (Little Black Forest Fest in Villingen Schwenningen and Dying Victims Attack in Essen).
Those were my questions for now, I’d like to thank you very much for taking the time and giving us an insight into the Hellcrash camp. In case you feel like I forgot something, the last words are for you…
WE PISS IN YOUR ASS!
