HELLDORADOS – Lessons In Decay

During the 90s a Finnish rock n’ roll band called Hybrid Children hinted at great potential with their L.A. Guns musical leanings and a slight hint of European accents throughout the vocals.  If you have a spare moment check out an album called Honeymoon in Babylon for proof of such potential.  This case applies to the sophomore album by these German rockers.  Their debut album hinted at some good times around the corner as well, but maybe missed out for some evasive reason.

Stuttgart certainly isn’t the capital city of such rock n’ roll debauchery, but has dealt a deck of cards that continues to tease at better days ahead if the Helldorados are anything to go by.  Lead vocalist Pierre has a complementary rasp to his clean vocal delivery as drummer Chris plays his heart out.  Steve has the unenviable task to produce some new riffs and styles on guitar whilst Gunnar plucks away on his bass.

There’s some tasty instrumentation contained within Megalomaniac and Anytime, Anywhere shoves an infectious hook deep into the ear.  The punk elements which lurk just beneath the surface seem somewhat tamed in the production of Lessons in Decay which perhaps lets the set of tracks down a little.  It wouldn’t be hard to imagine this album being belted out in fine style during a show on the Sunset Boulevard during the late 80s.

Knowing how bands can easily fall victim to quality control on a second studio album, Lessons in Decay isn’t bad at all.  Their self-titled debut album had plenty of highlights in the shape of Never Gonna Stop, Hunter and You Live, You Learn, You Die plus sported an album cover designed by artist Timo Wuerz known for his work with Marvel and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.  If you enjoyed their debut, then there’s plenty on this follow-up to continue your fascination with this German quartet.

Sing-a-long with their anthem To Live is to Die or grab your air guitar and throw shapes in front of the mirror whilst crankin’ up album-opener Seven Deadly Sins to refresh the memory.  Lessons in Decay will provide the band with plenty of material to mix in with their debut album highlights as they tour here and there for the next year or so.

Exhibiting a disciplined workman-like attitude suggests that we could be in for a third studio album too which should maintain what has been built with these two albums.  It wouldn’t be too outrageous to suspect their band name came from the W.A.S.P. album Helldorado unleashed back in 1999.  Similar hard-hitting rock n’roll values run adjacent horizons with the album and the way this band hammers out adrenaline-fueled and testosterone-motivated driving rock music.