Helstar
Helstar are an American power metal band that was founded in 1982 in Texas and now occurs only sporadically in appearance.
History
After the band released two demos, they took the label Combat Records, and brought in 1984, the debut album Burning Star out. With this and the two follow-up album Helstar belonged together with Watchtower, Militia, Assailant and others to form a movement Texan bands, elements of style, types of power, prog and thrash metal combined with each other. Particularly strong progressive elements on the album Nosferatu from 1989, on which the guitarists are partially adapted themes from classical pieces. But the two previous albums contain complex polyphonic tones and are therefore given by many guitarists as an influence.
The band released a demo tape in 1990 under the name Vigilante and dissipated thereafter provisionally. 1995 saw the reunion album Multiples of Black, which, however, from the typical Helstar sound received middling reviews because of the very poor production and deviations. As a result, the band broke up again and played more infrequently live performances (eg 2001 at the Bang Your Head Festival and 2004 on the Keep It True). The only constants are singer James Rivera and bassist Jerry Abarca. In addition, in 2000, a live album released with recordings from 1988 and the following year James Rivera Legacy, containing various demo recordings. In addition, Rivera and several other former members of Helstar occurred in 2004 with the Distant Thunder project in appearance. Published in 2007 a live DVD that was recorded in 2006 on the Bang Your Head Festival.
On April 25, 2014 their ninth studio album, This Wicked nest appears under AFM Records.