Helestios meld traditional metal with middle-eastern influences in new album

Single Reviews: “Downgraded World” and “Return to Baalbek” from Helestios’ album Your Pain Tastes Good-Released December 18, 2020

Helestios comprise Henrijs Leja (vocals/guitar); Stelios Aggelis (lead guitar); Ian den Boer (drums) and Agnis Aldiņš (bass), hailing from Latvia, Greece and Netherlands but now based around Basingstoke, England. Their sound takes on board both traditional metal riffing and melodic structure as well as more aggressive and atmospheric tones, such as Agnis’ throat singing intro to Sacrifice and the Lebanese prayer intro to Return to Baalbek recorded by Henrijs in 2019 whilst mass protests against the government in the Lebanese city raged around him.

The album is non-compromising yet immediately accessible, from Sacrifice, which reflects humankind’s inability to avoid killing each other, to Black Storm, a churning sea of riffs and tales told in the ancient mythologies of Syria and Egypt to All Attack, a song written in support of the Belorussian people who have spent recent months fighting to overthrow what many see as one of the last tyrannies of Europe.

ROCK AT NIGHT says: Punchy metal guitar riff, raspy singing, and high-energy mark “Downgraded World”. “Return to Baalbek” offers a very cool, Middle-Eastern tinged riff, along with cutting lead guitar accompaniment, and intensity, growling lyrics. You can definitely hear the Metallica influences in this song. Fans of metalcore–this one is for you!