Album Review: Hellions – Opera Oblivia (UNFD)

Hellions are a five piece Sydney based metal band that you’ve never heard of, unless you’re really lucky. I stumbled across their third album, Opera Oblivia by accident and what a happy accident it turned out to be.

This is a band that’s hard to put into one specific sub-genre as it combines punk rock, hardcore with spoken word style vocals/amazing gang-vocal moments, so many quality riffs & a sense of theatre that you just don’t see that much. Opening song 24, is such an exciting start with a fantastic hook all the way through. It’s uplifting with bags of melody, some unique use of different sounds and some incredible gang-vocals, it just sounds huge.

Those concerned that 24 didn’t bring enough heaviness can’t complain once they’ve heard Quality of Life, a track with a smash-mouth beat & a chorus that just soars. The riffs on this song are as heavy as anything but even when it does slow things down the guitar melodies just excel.

Even songs that take on a more pop-punk style like Thresher have a bigger & heavier sound than most bands that fall within that genre.

It’s a fantastic album & only takes a few small missteps throughout its 10 track run. Lotus Eater doesn’t have quite the same impact as the songs that came before and I found the chorus to be a bit bland. While Bad Way’s jaunty beat really doesn’t work for me sounding out place with the rest of the album.

The rest of the album is so strong though, Nightliner Rhapsody has a mind-bendingly heavy riff dropped mid-way & mixing punky snarling vocals with a chorus that could have been taken from the My Chemical Romance song-book.

Nuestra Culpa really shows off the more theatrical side of the band and is hauntingly beautiful. The piano mixed with throbbing echoes, the soft crooning in the background & the snarled vocals shouted over everything, it’s a special song and the movie score like ending is just the icing on top of a damn fine cake.

The album ends as strongly as it begun with 25, a frantic combination of the best elements that have come before. An epic end that hammers home the strength of the album and strength of Hellions as a band.

This really is a fantastic album that touches on so many sub-genres and creates something very unique. A worthwhile listen.

Overall Track List:

1. 24
2. Quality of Life
3. Thresher
4. Lotus Eater
5. He Without Sin (Halation)
6. He Without Sin (Heels of the Hands)
7. Bad Way
8. Nightliner Rhapsody
9. Nuestra Culpa
10. 25