Vhäldemar - I Made My Own Hell

*=Staff's pick	I Made My Own Hell* Breakin´All the Rules* No Return* Steam Roller Old King's Visions (Part II) Mystery (instrumental)* House of War* Moonlight (instrumental) Dreamer* Death Comes Tonight I Will Raise My Fist* March of Dooms (instrumental)

Genre	Speed/Power Metal	Carlos Escudero	Vocals
Tracks	12	Carlos Escudero	Guitar
Runningtime	51 Min.	Pedro J. Monge	Guitar
Label	Arise Records	Oscar Cuadrado	Bass
Release	17 Nov. 2003	Edu Martínez	Drums
Country	Spain	-	Keyboards
Similar artists	Gamma Ray

Spanish Vhäldemar was definitely one of the better newcomers on the metal scene the year 2002 and their debut Fight to the End was also one of the real interesting releases. The whole deal began with the forming of the band in Vizcaya at the end of the 1990's. There guitarist Pedro J. Monge decided to form a metal band together with vocalist/guitar player Carlos Escudero. Drummer Edu Martínes and bass player Oscar Cuadrado joined in some time later and the songwriting of the first Vhäldemar tracks began. Three tracks were recorded and the rest is history. The band got a deal with Arise, recorded Fight to the End, played numerous gigs and at many festivals, supported among others Lost Horison during their Spanish tour and last but not least Vhäldemar was voted as best newcomer band in the Brasilian metal magazine Rock Brigade. In September 2003 the recordings of I Made My Own Hell started at Rock Studios and the final result, I Made My Own Hell, has arrived at last.

And there's one thing that seems to be very reliable when it comes to Vhäldemar. There's absolutely no beating around the bush when this quartet gets down to business. Acceleration doesn't even exist in their world because that's very hard when you're going at full throttle from the very start. The album launches with the opener and title track which follow exactly down those lines. A short lyric section starts it all and is followed by a merciless typical Vhäldemar guitar intro and after barely a minute the first speedy awesome solo thunders from the speakers. This is the ultimate album opener and immediately answers the question if Vhäldemar can live up to the high expectations. Then follows yet another tune at the speed of light concept. Breakin' all the Rules has also one of the better solos on the album and now all eventual doubts of failure have been totally swept away. No Return takes down the tempo a little (but just a little...) and the chorus of this track might be one of the most catchy the band's come up with so far. The tune also has some weird vocal variation of the chorus towards the end. It sounds as if they're possibly might be singin' backwards or something but no matter how it's done it sounds pretty cool.

Another interesting thing occurs in track number seven, House of War. The chorus of this one ends with a real dynamite riff that simply screams Rolf Kasparek composition and the lyrics in this riffing section is nothing else than just the words running wild. If this is intentional or not I don't know but it at least raises something of a tribute question. Among the rest of the tracks we find a semi ballad (The King's Visions) three instrumental tunes, one grinding mid tempo (Death Comes Tonight) song and the rest are of the usual maximum velocity character. Among these Dreamer with it's great chorus and I Raise My Fist with some real killer guitars stand out the most.

One of the drawbacks with Fight to the End was that it was so short and a longer album was something I really notified as missing. With I Made My Own Hell that department's taken care of and you get more than 15 minutes more brilliant metal. Another difference is the production that's better and feels both fatter and more full-toned. Some tracks on the debut were also so extremely fast and furious that it almost came close to the absurd but although there are such elements on this album too, those are much more toned down which I feel is much better.

Those were the major differences but of course many things remain the same. The vocals of Carlos Escudero are just as great as on the debut and he stills sounds like a darker and more powerful Kai Hansen. Just excellent! Drummer Ed Martìnes is whipping those skins and stamping the pedals to the double kegs both fast and heavy and bass player Cuadrado easily and smoothly follows the pace to set a trully great support and rhythm. The guitars are just as fast and furious as we want them to be. The very energetic riffs, leads and solos are of a very high quality and together with the vocals they continue to provide Vhäldemar's strongest character and trademark. The statement that Vhäldemar basically is a mix between Gamma Ray and Manowar is still valid but I think that the sound has become more individual and Vhäldemar have absolutely found their niche on the metal scene of today.

If you liked the first album, you'll definitely like the second too. Vhäldemar have managed to construct a very solid sequel to their metal smasher of last year and seem to be destined for some serious greatness. The razor shapr Vhäldemar steel trimphs once again and I Made My Own Hell is a real kick ass display of 100% metal and furious energy that you impossibly can go wrong with!