{"id":11333,"date":"2024-02-23T12:36:51","date_gmt":"2024-02-23T12:36:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mannersofhate.com\/?p=11333"},"modified":"2024-02-26T09:56:33","modified_gmt":"2024-02-26T09:56:33","slug":"review-helstar-nosferatu-1989","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alliedforces.eu\/en\/review-helstar-nosferatu-1989\/","title":{"rendered":"35 years of \u00abNosferatu\u00bb, Helstar’s masterful tribute to Bram Stoker"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you ever experienced that feeling of discovering an album that changes your life? The same thing happened to us when we first heard Helstar<\/a><\/strong>‘s majestic Nosferatu<\/em><\/strong>, a must-have album for any fan of old school American metal. It impacted us in such an intimate way that we became hopelessly lost in the dark and solemn atmosphere it conveyed. It is without a doubt one of my favorite albums and with each listen we can feel that different nuances are appreciated. Helstar<\/strong> began with a debut that draws heavily from the heavy music of NWOBHM, Burning Star<\/em><\/strong>, followed by the aggressive hybrid between American power and thrash of Remnants Of War<\/em><\/strong>. This second album would mark the path that the group would follow in their two masterpieces: A Distant Thunder<\/em><\/strong> and Nosferatu<\/em><\/strong>. In the first one can see a technical evolution with respect to its predecessor, while our today’s protagonist represents the compositional zenith of the group: a wonderful mix between the power\/thrash sound that characterizes them and clear neoclassical influences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As its name indicates, it is a partially conceptual album based on the famous silent film \u00abNosferatu, A Symphony Of Horror<\/em><\/strong> by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau<\/strong> (1922), starring the magnificent performance of Max Schreck <\/strong>as the gloomy Count Orlok. Although perhaps the best adaptation of Bram Stoker’s timeless Dracula <\/em><\/strong>(1897), his widow filed a copyright infringement lawsuit and ordered all copies of the work destroyed. Its director had changed all the characters’ names since he had not been able to buy the rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In September of this year it will be thirty-five years since its publication in 1989. Naturally, we wanted to do a detailed analysis of the themes that make up this magnificent work. The influence it had on later works of both technical thrash and neoclassical metal is undeniable. The soft guitar intro of Rhapsody In Black<\/em><\/strong> serves as the perfect introduction for the thunderous Baptized In Blood<\/em><\/strong> that begins this gem of the metal underground. The theatricality and range of the voice of the great James Rivera<\/strong> impacts the listener from the first notes. Taking into account the theme covered and the musical style offered, it is inevitable to think of the brilliant soundtracks of classic video games in the Castlevania <\/strong>saga, such as Castlevania IV<\/em> or Symphony Of The Night<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Helstar <\/strong>in 1983. Pic by Char Tupper.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

An excerpt from the famous 1979 film Dracula, directed by John Badham<\/strong> who trusted Frank Langella<\/strong> for the role of the dark Count, prepares us for the next blow that is To Sleep, Per Chance To Scream<\/em><\/strong>. The title of the song refers to a passage from the famous Hamlet by William Shakespeare, when the Danish prince has just learned from his father’s ghost that his uncle Claudius has just killed his brother the king and plans to marry his wife. The young man, feeling on the verge of madness, debates between seeking revenge or committing suicide, unable to know how to react to such adversity. The original soliloquy is To Sleep, Per Chance To Dream<\/em><\/strong>, in which he wonders if his own death might be the best solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In these first two songs the vampire himself recounts in the first person the so-called baptism of blood. In Bram Stoker<\/strong>‘s novel, it is explained that it is the process through which the vampire bites its victim and makes it drink its own blood so that it does not die, with the aim of binding it forever as its slave and continuing to feed on it. its vital essence throughout eternity. Its origin is religious, being the term that describes the martyrdom that a person who has practiced the Christian <\/em>faith must suffer, in the event that they have not been baptized and want to purify themselves and redeem themselves from their sins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without taking the foot off the accelerator at any time, another of the album’s high points comes with Harker’s Tale (Mass Of Death)<\/em><\/strong>, in which Jonathan Harker<\/em> himself from the original novel tells with dismay the horrors that he and his wife Mina (later transformed into a living dead woman) have been experimented on in the Carpathian castle where Dracula <\/em>resides. The first guitar solo by Larry Barragan<\/strong> and the second by Andr\u00e9 Corbin<\/strong> are among the best of an album full of musical exhibitions by its five members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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