Stephen
"Hellbound" marked the second release of German's heavy metal act led by Doro Pesch, released in 1985 under Vertigo Records, provided a raw and traditional metal onslaught with a tidal-wave scream of the talented rock diva. I'd admit that Doro do has a phenomenal throat, unleashing of what we called a taunting voice, probably even better with some men singer, but judging from the quality of nine songs presented here, I hardly say that this is a good album, not even decent.
Several songs that I admire here is "Earthshaker Rock", a high speed thumping groove with the typical hellish scream erupted with an air raid siren in the beginning. "Out of Control", is another winner here, the best song of the album with an incredible riffage and top-notch squeal. "Shout It Out" made the last enjoyable song of the album, has a cool vibe with nice hooks, and at least, Pesch didn't outsing this one.
The title track opener, actually is not that bad with some average melodies here and there, but I really can't stand Doro's singing technique. She didn't sound powerful but more of a painful moan to me. While other numbers such as "All Night", "Wrathchild", and "Time To Die" are a struggling and frustrating tracks, suffered the quality of a good songwriting and became the contrast to the strong tunes, and what's worst is that they closed "Hellbound" with a foul piece of uninspiring ballad, "Catch My Heart". This album is definitely not a good start and need to be avoided unless you're curiously want to explore the early years of Warlock.