Unitron
Helstar-Twas the Night of a Helish Xmas
Now don't get me wrong, I love Helstar. Ever since I heard the raw and heavy debut 'Burning Star' I was hooked. I especially love what they have been doing recently, with their new album for example which I will review at some point. Unfortunately, their first live album doesn't hold up.
The music is good, the set-list is good, James Rivera's vocals are good, what's bad? The production.
The production is probably the worst production I've ever heard, even worse then some demo recordings. It's so muffled you can barely hear anything, and it just takes away from the entire performance. I can't help but think why it's so bad, it was a live performance from the 80's sure but that's no excuse. It wasn't released till 2000, however. I could understand if it was a bootleg or a demo, but to my knowledge it's not. The recording constantly gets quieter and you hear more white noise then music.
Helstar can release a great live album, which they did with 30 Years of Hel in 2012 but they didn't release a good one here. Stay away from this one and get 30 Years of Hel if you don't want to just hear muffled instruments and vocals or white noise.
Hope you found this review helpful.