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I usually don't give w second look to anything with "industrial" listed in the genre name (in other words, I usually delete the e-mail as soon as I see the word "industrial") but for some reason I decided to give French industrial black metallers HELEL a try. After all, one's tastes change over time, otherwise I'd still be listening only to heavy and power metal.

This album was released on CD in 2009 and is now getting the vinyl treatment. This is really something else and I'm not even sure I like it, though I have been using it to fill the occasional craving for something that sounds different. HELEL do a pretty decent job of mixing rather fast black metal that makes your head spin in the fastest moment, along with the... hmmm... usual mess that industrial brings to the table. Those parts seriously sound weird and are unlikely to be welcomed by most black metallers who don't like anyone messing too much with the sound. Depending on the day, I've found this either annoying or interesting and I'm really just stuck in the middle. It's certainly not something that I'll play regularly like the countless black metal albums I own, but I guess that on a day where I need some weirdness and Anaal Nathrakh is too much, HELEL can fit the bill.