Well, no topic about Helstar so here we go...

This band is active since the early eighties and they released several brilliant albums like "Burning Star", "Remnants of war", "Distant Thunder" and "Nosferatu".

They play typical US power / thrash metal and they sound very progressive.You can even consdider them as the godfathers of this genre... James Rivera is the singer of the band and he has an outstanding voice, one of the best in the metal scène. Other bands he was a member of are Seven Witches, Destiny's End, Killing Machine, Vicious Rumors...

They were disbanded for many years but are active again and will release a new album. James Rivera will enter the studio with Helstar after his work with Vicious Rumors.

This band is far underrated and deserves much more respect.

Check them at www.helstar.com and if you like them, well try the topic about US metal because there's so much more out there.....

Hello there! Long time haven't seen a thread started by you, but I had to say this is a great band. I got a few months ago the DVD and it's fuckin' great, seems to be a bootleg, but it captures the band in it's true form (reminds me of the Agent Steel one).

Another great band

Nine songs from the first reunion show of the "Remnants of War" lineup of HELSTAR have been posted exclusively at TexasMetalUnderground.com for streaming or download. The soundboard-quality recordings were made during the 4th annual Robb's MetalWorks Showcase, which took place at the White Rabbit in San Antonio on June 10, 2006. The site also features exclusive live photos. Songs available include for download and/or streaming include:

01. Evil Reign
02. Destroyer
03. Suicidal Nightmare
04. Dark Queen
05. Face The Wicked One
06. Angel Of Death / Burning Star
07. Witches Eye
08. The King Is Dead
09. Baptized In Blood

An upcoming episode of San Antonio's longest-standing metal cable show "Robb's MetalWorks" in early 2007 will boast these live recordings in video.

"Remants of War", originally released in 1986, marked HELSTAR's second release for Combat Records and brought the band out of the Houston/San Antonio metal underground with national tours and classics such as "Suicidal Nightmare", "Conquest" and "Evil Reign".

I have only heard of these guys,never heard them,but that will change very soon,expect some comments from me in the future!

One of my favorite bands!!! James is truly amazing... love everything he ever did!! Such a great voice!!!

Highly recommended to everyone!!!! :banger:

I like this abnd, I had hear only early albums from 80ties in bad quality, but I like it, one of bets 80ties bands what hasnt been in mainstream and tv

Absolutely fabulous band! I love everything what they put out (okay, I haven't heard Multiples of Black, but it wil change soon).. The demo comp. rules, the official-made bootleg album rules, but the first four studio albums are absolutely mindblowing.. Perseverance and Desperation is the most complete instrumental song I've ever heard, quite possibly...
Amazing guitarplaying, genius vocals, tight rhythm section with some wicked fast tempoes, interesting lyrics, great soloes, you've got all. Larry Baragan and friends own your ass!!
Long live HELSTAR!!

Hey anyone got the new Burning Alive DVD by them? Is it out yet?
I'm very excited about it! I love the music, now give me somthing to look at !

I have it and it rules, one of the best dvd's I've seen yet along side the Anget Steel one. The only thing is it's too short, but it's worth the buy anyways.

I had the DVD and I can't god damned find it anymore. I lend it to somebody and I don't know who... God damn fucking hell... But it's a good DVD although the production is pretty poor...

Well the production is what you would expect from a bootleg (almost). I'm not a fan of these kind of recordings but they are good because they show what band really does. I have some over produced DVD and they aren't that fun, it seems a whole lot of the vibe is lost that way.

HELSTAR Guitarist Talks About Classic 'Nosferatu' Album - Dec. 17, 2006

Full in Bloom Music recently conducted an interview with HELSTAR guitarist Larry Barragan. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Full in Bloom Music: What are your memories of your classic record, "Nosferatu"?

Larry: My memories of "Nosferatu"? Hazy! No seriously, that CD was hard work. The music was quite complex. I remember really having to rehearse and practice quite a bit before we went into the studio. When I listen to it now I can step back and see what a nice piece of work it was.

Full in Bloom Music: Yes it is. I would have to say it's the one album I like the most out of all of them. I loved the whole Bram Stoker storyline. It's certainly the most technical album. I notice that there is only you or Andre playing on a few songs, tell me about that.

Larry: I think that was kind of the beginning of the end. I love that album, we put a lot into it. However, I think that's when Andre and I started going in different directions musically. I hated the instrumental "Perseverance and Desperation". To me it was guitar masturbation and I wasn't into that and I'm still not into that. He said he'd do all the parts for it when it came to recording it. I said go for it. Putting that song on the album was a huge mistake and I wish I would have stuck to my guns and told him "no." Whenever I listen to the album I always skip that song. That song is a good song but it belonged on the Andre Corbin solo album, not "Nosferatu". I did all the guitars on "Harsh Reality". I don't really know why. If you notice, that song doesn't even have a solo. I've never really worried about being featured in a song, to me that's just egotistical bullshit. If a song needs a solo; great, if not... shit, even better. I don't need to put a part in a song so that I can stand in the spotlight and have someone tell me how great a guitarist I am. I've never thought of myself as a great guitarist. I'm an average guitarist really. I'm not a shredder. When I solo I try to make my solos interesting and tasteful. But if I had to play rhythm all night long I would be just fine with that. That's where Andre and I were so different.

Full in Bloom Music: What was touring like? Any fond memories there?

Larry: Well, all the tours we did were scraping the bottom of the barrel tours. All of us packed up in a van and running out of money. I remember one time we didn't know if we were going to have enough money to eat the next day so we hit this buffet and just scarfed down like no tomorrow. I'd look down the table and everyone had like five empty plates in front of them. The shows were always great but the shit that went on behind the scenes was always classic "Spinal Tap".

Full in Bloom Music: What happened after "Nosferatu" Why did you leave again?

Larry: You know, "Nosferatu" was our fourth album and we all poured our heart and souls into it. We felt like it was going to be our turn to make the next step. In the end we just ended up not doing anything because issues with the record company and what not. I had to make a change.

Full in Bloom Music: Can you elaborate on these issues?

Larry: Well, for one, Metal Blade and Roadrunner where parting ways right as "Nosferatu" was about to be released. Roadrunner didn't want to bring us over because we weren't going to be part of their label. We couldn't hook up with a booking agent here in the States and touring was just a fiasco. The album died without any momentum and Metal Blade eventually dropped the band.

Full in Bloom Music: You've also got this new band, ETERNITY BLACK. Tell me more about that.

Larry: ETERNITY BLACK was formed a few years ago by Rob Trevino and me. The band features Russell Deleon on drums. Russ is also the drummer in HELSTAR. On vocals we have Ryan McKnight and on bass we have Carlos Fuste. This band is nothing like HELSTAR. It's very riff oriented just straight-ahead thrash metal. It's the heaviest thing I have been a part of. When you come out to see us you'll see the energy is through the roof. At first we caught some slack because people were coming out expecting us to do old HELSTAR tunes or thinking we were going to sound like HELSTAR but we nixed that from the beginning. ETERNITY BLACK is very much its own band and stands on its own.

Read the entire interview at www.fullinbloommusic.com.

James Rivera was also in a band called Destiny's End. The CD I have is "Breathe Deep The Dark" and it was released in 1998. You should look for this one as you will like it too.

Written by Empress on 19.12.2006 at 07:10

James Rivera was also in a band called Destiny's End. The CD I have is "Breathe Deep The Dark" and it was released in 1998. You should look for this one as you will like it too.

Yes, Destiny's End is awesome too. I prefere "Breathe deep the dark" above their second release.

For all James Rivera fans. As far as I know this are his official releases:
-----Helstar------
Burning star
Remnants of war
A distant thunder
Nosferatu
Multiples of black
The James Rivera Legacy
Twas The Night Of A Helish X-Mas

-----Distant Thunder-----
Welcome The End

-----Destiny's End------
Breathe deep the dark
Transition

-----Killing Machine-----
metalmorphosis

------Vicious Rumors-----
Warball

-----Seven Witches-----
Passage to the other side
Year of the witch

-----Killing Machine-----
metalmorphosis

@Hellish Star: you wrote Killing Machine twice

It's such a pitty that the sound on T'was the Night of a Hellis X-Mas isn't that great...

It seems that I will have a chance to see them live:



Now, I don't know if I will find transport to Cayey so it is possible that I will ungrimly miss the show.

Written by Darth Satanious on 22.12.2006 at 07:38

It seems that I will have a chance to see them live:



Now, I don't know if I will find transport to Cayey so it is possible that I will ungrimly miss the show.

Don't miss it; these guys are awesome at stage....

Great stuff going on there specialy Helstar, they blast (I've only seen the dvd) & Dantesco are awsome 2 on the album atleast.

@Hellish Star:

Yeah Hellish Star, I know that that would be very regrettable. I will try.

@Venom_BM

From that list I can recognize Pacto de Sangre (Pact of Blood) which is a lukewarm (Christian) Power Metal band and I think that the intelligible logo there is from a good Puerto Rican Black Metal band that could come to be even greater if they get to throw that under average drummer they have with them. It is funny, I think that only here in Puerto Rico you can have a show featuring bands from Power, Heavy, Post-Thrash, Nu, Black, Metalcore, Hardcore, etc. at the same time. I was told that in this show there were going to be two other North American bands present but I cannot tell them from among the ones in the flyer.

Yes, I owe Dantesco is also a reason for wanting me to assist the show. I owe them a watch since a long time now.

The reunited "Remnants of War"-era lineup of Helstar shared the stage with Testament last night (Tuesday, March 27) at the Scout Bar in Houston, Texas.

Commented Helstar bassist Jerry Abarca: "This show was GREAT!!! Sold out... You had to walk on top of people just to get anywhere. If you missed it, maybe next time. Helstar made an official announcement last night. Helstar will be recording a new album. This year!!! And will be shopping for a great label. We did play a new one for the crowd and it was a frenzy of madness. To be all honest it was it was a madhouse and of course I had to come to work today. I was well worth it. Thanks for everyone's time and we hope to see you in the near future..."

Helstar's current lineup includes Abarca, guitarists Larry Barragan and Rob Trevino, vocalist James Rivera and drummer Russell DeLeon.

Awesome!

HELSTAR Debuts New Song In Houston; New CD In The Works - Mar. 28, 2007

The reunited "Remnants of War"-era lineup of HELSTAR shared the stage with TESTAMENT last night (Tuesday, March 27) at the Scout Bar in Houston, Texas.

Commented HELSTAR bassist Jerry Abarca: "This show was GREAT!!! Sold out... You had to walk on top of people just to get anywhere. If you missed it, maybe next time. HELSTAR made an official announcement last night. HELSTAR will be recording a new album. This year!!! And will be shopping for a great label. We did play a new one for the crowd and it was a frenzy of madness. To be all honest it was it was a madhouse and of course I had to come to work today. I was well worth it. Thanks for everyone's time and we hope to see you in the near future..."

HELSTAR's current lineup includes Abarca, guitarists Larry Barragan and Rob Trevino, vocalist James Rivera (also in VICIOUS RUMORS, KILLING MACHINE), and drummer Russell DeLeon.

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YES ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Lol Hellish Star, you're so excited you didn't even notice I posted the same message

Anyway, the point is: it's great news. Spread the word.

Ahh yes I can finally comment on these guys. I bought "Distant Thunder" and "Nosferatu" and wow are they amazing. I was especially captivated by Nosferatu. What an amazing album. That's all I can really say, well that and go and listen if you haven't!!!!!

Written by [user id=823] on 27.04.2007 at 04:25

Ahh yes I can finally comment on these guys. I bought "Distant Thunder" and "Nosferatu" and wow are they amazing. I was especially captivated by Nosferatu. What an amazing album. That's all I can really say, well that and go and listen if you haven't!!!!!

Great to see you like them.... Even greater to see that the US power metal scène is back! Alive and kicking'

Written by Hellish Star on 27.04.2007 at 22:05

Written by [user id=823] on 27.04.2007 at 04:25

Ahh yes I can finally comment on these guys. I bought "Distant Thunder" and "Nosferatu" and wow are they amazing. I was especially captivated by Nosferatu. What an amazing album. That's all I can really say, well that and go and listen if you haven't!!!!!

Great to see you like them.... Even greater to see that the US power metal scène is back! Alive and kicking'

haha a little late quoting you back, but better late than never! Yeah I also got my bro into Helstar! and like I mentioned before, these guys are a must listen for any US power metal fan who has never heard this great band.

hmm...I must have missed this thread.

This actually reminds me that I ordered Distant Thunder like a fucking month ago and my mongoloid mail man still hasn't given it to me....

But yeah, Nosferatu is awesome and the vocals have grown on me since I bought it.

US Metal legend HELSTAR is back!!!

On November 23rd "Sins Of The Past" will be released, an album of re-recorded Band classics + 2 brand new killer songs! Once again it becomes obvious how unique the band was - and still is! Just a little time ago HELSTAR reunited nearly in original line-up. A new studio album (the first in 13 years!) is scheduled for a release in Summer 2008!

HELSTAR: 'Sins Of The Past' Details Revealed - Oct. 10, 2007

AFM Records has set a November 23 release date for HELSTAR's "Sins of the Past", a "best-of" album featuring re-recordings of the band's classics along with two brand new tracks. The first edition of "Sins of the Past" will come in a special CD layout. A limited picture vinyl version will also be available.

"Sins of the Past" track listing:

01. Burning Star
02. Suicidal Nightmare
03. The King Is Dead
04. Evil Reign
05. Baptised In Blood
06. Witch's Eye
07. Tyrannicide
08. Harker's Tale
09. Angel of Death
10. Dracula's Castle
11. Face the Wicked One
12. Tormentor (new song)
13. Caress of the Dead (new song)

+ Additional video material (approx. one hour in length)

An all-new album of original HELSTAR material is tentatively due next summer.

A 13-minute audio interview with HELSTAR frontman James Rivera (also of VICIOUS RUMORS) conducted by Danish rock/metal magazine Revolution-Music.dk has been posted online at this location (MP3, 6 MB).

Formed in 1982, HELSTAR achieved legendary status with such albums as "Burning Star" (1984), "Remnants of War" (1986), "A Distant Thunder" (1988) and "Nosferatu" (1989). After the band broke up in the early Nineties, vocalist James Rivera played in a number of groups such as VIGILANTE and NEW EDEN before reuniting with HELSTAR for the "Multiples in Back" CD in 1995. After the LP was issued, the band split up once again. Rivera subsequently released albums with the bands DISTANT THUNDER and KILLING MACHINE before joining VICIOUS RUMORS prior to the the recording of their latest album, "Warball".

Watch HELSTAR's reunion performance at the fourth annual "Robb's MetalWorks" showcase on June 10, 2006:

"Sins of the past" is a mind blowing album!!!!! The old songs are outstanding in the re-recorded version. The new songs sounds awesome...