Helldorados
Lessons in Decay

Germany’s Helldorados are back with their second album and this time they are offering some lessons in decay, like anyone would need anything like that, most people are decaying. We reach our prime quickly and from that we decay, but maybe these guys knows the real art of that thing and can give lessons. They are said to be forerunners in a genre that is ancient and that they are so because of their catchy hooks, heaviness and glamour. I recall their debut album from 2012 which I did not review because of lack of time so I decided to skip it because the time I listened to it gave me absolutely nothing, it was neither good nor bad. This time we take some lessons in decay.

Sleaze metal is a description as good as any when it comes to this album, it is catchy, heavy and melodic. The singer has a kind of sleazy glam-rock voice that suits this music quite well but isn’t that impressive if I am honest. Decent modern production, nothing fancy but the sound works well with its melodicness and all of that. No surprises here, they take the safe route in all regards of creating this album. Kind of an easy to take in, inoffensive production. They try to be a bit funny in their lyrics, something that ends up being mostly silly. Some lyrics are even ridiculous, very much so. These kind of albums should not be too long and this is just over 40 minutes so it is quite alright in that regard although you could wish for a little bit more variation.

Quite a good album, nothing amazing but it does its job and should appeal to a very large audience as it is solid enough not to scare anyone away. It should seem a good album to most anyone I suppose. But something that everyone likes is rarely something that anyone really likes and I think that is the problem with this album. They round of all the corners and are so inoffensive that no one can’t really be overawed by this album. It is too safe and the band needs to let loose a whole lot more, the story is about the same as it was with the first album (from what I heard). Had it been the heyday of this kind of music they probably would have sold in millions, nowadays you cannot make decent melodic rock/metal and expect to sell bucket-loads of it.

I think the third song, By the Progress as well as the fifth track Anytime, Anywhere, are very strong tracks compared with the others and these are at least something that makes a bit of impression amongst an album that is exactly in the middle of our scale. An okay album that doesn’t make much of a lasting impression and you get tired of it pretty fast as well.

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