To Hellion and Back - Action-Packed Adventure Novel for Thriller & Mystery Fans | Perfect for Book Clubs & Travel Reading

Growing up as a child in the 80's, I quickly became a huge fan of heavy metal as a whole in particular the subgenres called thrash metal and power metal in particular. While you had your heavy hitters like Iron Maiden, Metallica, Judas Priest, Dio, Mercyful Fate, Anthrax, Megadeth, Slayer and Exodus for instance, there were many other great metal bands that had some great music but for one reason or another never really reached anywhere near the level of success and acclaim that these aforementioned bands did.One thing you didn't see much up during the 80's were metal bands fronted by a female lead singer. That would change with the German band Warlock which was fronted by the talented and beautiful Doro Pesch. Warlock would have some commercial success particularly in Europe before eventually splitting up with Doro striking out on a successfull solo career that still continues to this day.The other metal band featuring a female lead singer around that same time was the lesser known Hellion featuring Ann Boleyn on lead vocals. They released a well received self titled e.p. in 1983 before eventaully releasing their first full length album a full 4 years later. Hellion's recorded output varied in quality but each release did feature some quality material that while not reaching the heights that Warlock obtained around the same time, was still a nice diversion from the other more mainstream metal bands around that point and time.Hellion would change members never maintaining a stable linupe with Ann being the only consistent member even until this day. Hellion has also disbanded multiple times over the years but have seen a recent resurgence of interest resulting in Ann putting together a new lineup that is currently touring and planning on recording new material.This resurgence in interest has also resulted in this excellent 2 disc anthology covering the band's entire discography from 1983 to the present hitting the majority of the highlights on both the album and E.P. releases. It also features some cool rarities like a couple of great 1984 demos that were produced by none other than Ronnie James Dio himself (who also managed the band throughout most of the 80's too).Disc one is almost 55 minutes in length whereas disc two is a little over 67 minutes so at the budget price of only 12 dollars that this collection is fetching at most placers, you get a great deal on some fine traditional metal music. The remastering sounds great and thankfully isn't brickwalled so that the music has room to breathe. The booklet contains a great history of the band as well as some nice photos too. What's cool is that I hadn't really thought about this band any since the early 80's when I had obtained their 1983 e.p. through a tape trading dealer in a metal magazine. It's always cool to be able to go back and catch up with a band like Hellion that I really didn't keep up with after that initial great self titled e.p. Some of this is due to the band just never really getting into a groove of releasing truly consistent quality work as well as the constant lineup changes.Ann Boleyn might not have quite the range or power as a vocalist compared to Doro Pesch, but one thing I do respect is that she never used her sex appeal to help gain fame like Warlock did with the admittedly gorgeous Doro Pesch. Hey, sex sells, but integrity and principles are always much more important in my eyes. I can't recommend this collection enough. Hellion delivers some very fine traditional metal on this well done anthology that shows with maybe a few more luck changes and opportunities during their heyday, maybe could have reached the level of success that Ann always strived to achieve. Highly recommended!