HELLCITY 13 – Hellcity 13

Hellcity 13 is a Scandinavian Glam/AOR type of band that has catchy lyrics and vocals to reel you in. They transport you back in time to the 80’s and that’s a good thing. One of the great things about the 80’s is that time period put out all kinds of great music. Whether you were into Metal, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Classic Rock, Glam, Punk, you name it … the 80’s had it. That’s the great thing about Hellcity 13; you get your Rock, Glam, and Punk all rolled into one. That speaks volumes for bands when they can mix different styles and still keep it fresh and rockin’.

The album starts off with a rockin’ tune called “In Love with Love.” It makes you want to get into your car and roll the windows down and just jam. They have two vocalists, Mika and Susannah. It is very effective the way the two of them play off of each other and the sound is great. “American Psycho” has that Billy Idol “Rebel Yell” sound to it and then enters Susannah’s crushing vocals that Billy never had in any of his songs! “Masquerade” has an Annie Lennox and The Eurhythmics sound to it, and Mika is the dominant vocalist in this song, but you hear Susannah adding her soft, wispy, sound as well. The piano/keyboards are an added bonus and it gives the album a little something extra.

“Dead End” has a very melancholy sound to it, but has something to it that just makes you want more. At one part of the song, the piano is in the forefront, then you have an acoustic guitar playing a very moving piece, and then it rocks with a scorching guitar part. “In Your Eyes” begins with a beautiful harpsichord sound, then breaks off into a crunching guitar riff; great lyrics that warrant listening to this song more than once. It is not very often that you hear a band, with seven members, that can pull off a rockin’ album like this one and not be stepping all over each other, but Hellcity 13 does it and does it very well. No matter what kind of music you are into, this album offers a lot of different sounds and styles that will be liked if you give it a chance and listen and take it all in.

“Is Anybody Out There” just plain rocks! Great piano once again and very beautiful melodies between Mika and Susannah and you just want to sing-a-long with this one; and just a great guitar solo. “Yesterday’s News” definitely gives you more of that piano sound in this song than any others, and it works well for this song. “My World Has Stopped” features Susannah singing mostly by herself and it is really a beautiful song. It would have been great if she had more of a chance to show her vocal talents because she really has the kind of voice that you could get used to hearing, and she has great range as well.