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Hellraiser > We'll Bury You! > Reviews
Hellraiser - We'll Bury You!

They really buried me - 50%

Colonel Para Bellum, November 16th, 2019
Written based on this version: 1991, 12" vinyl, SNC Records

I swear, I did not hear this album in my youth, and maybe it was a blessing in disguise for me, because I would have thought that you could not compose music for your debut album. Truly compose, I mean. The "We'll Bury You!" album is a perfect illustration of the gulf between the "music was inspired" and "music was copied" situations. Both show a "source of inspiration", but the energy boost from each of them is distinctly different.

This album features decent old-school thrash metal (actually, there was no other thrash metal at that time), mostly middle tempo, but there are some fast songs or fragments too. Thrash metal in US style: their music is in the vein of Metallica, the vocals are very similar to Dave Mustaine's (it's best heard in the fourth song "I Wanna Be Free"), the electrifying choral cries are from Anthrax (the first "Rockets in the Air" and again the fourth "I Wanna Be Free "), a grimacing with a wacky voice (the second" I Got a Power ") – in the manner of D.R.I. and generally hardcore / crossover genre, which was gaining strength in those days. I can't condemn such a "borrowing" – the whole Russian metal scene was inspired and even created by Western music, there's nothing to be done about it. However, when you can take apart almost every song and say, where one or another riff comes from, such "borrowing" has no guts in it.

In the very first song, "Rockets in the Air", you can identify the riffs from "Master of Puppets" without much effort. Song structure, musical techniques, pauses, changes in chord succession, melodic acoustic-guitar fingering – everything leaves a deja vu sensation. For the second song "I Got a Power", "The Thing That Should Not Be" was taken as the basis. The third song "Dark Side of You" was clearly created as a "version" of "To Live Is to Die". However, unlike the original, this piece lacks melody and penetration. Well, you can copy riffs, but you can not copy the heart, that's the point. Judging by all the songs, Hellraiser play their instruments very well, but does this make sense, if they cannot create something of their own.

Let's go on, the second side of vinyl: the song "I Wanna Be Free" – well, this is a faint resemblance of "Creeping Death", for that matter. The sixth song "Win the Battle" is imbued with a spirit of Metallica too, one hundred per cent, but I couldn't identify exactly which song it is, I'm not an expert on Metallica at all. Along the way, the idea arose that there are, perhaps, too many hardcore / crossover elements here – and actually you can hear them throughout the whole album. But I think that Metallica are complicit in this too: it may well be that this is the influence of their "The $ 5.98 EP - Garage Days Re-Revisited", who knows. Seventh song "Snakes in the Kitchen": despite the fact that there are accelerated riffs from "Master of Puppets" at the beginning of the composition, in general it is nothing more than an attempt to create their own version of "Dyers Eve". Well, and the final guitar fingering in this song (in other editions of this album it's made as a separate track "Outro") – this is, of course, "One".

Only the fifth song "Danger Zone" seems to me more or less their own song – it's not duplication of another Metallica song, it's precisely "influenced by". The composition is dynamic, technical, of course, but, generally speaking, contentless. Well, the "We'll Bury You!" album can only be praised for the diligence and technique of the playing, but not for the originality.

DIY thrash from behind the Iron Curtain! - 91%

Thrashohol, March 23rd, 2006

I'm always astounded by the endurance and dedication of underground heavy metal in other parts of the world. It's truly a tribute to the driving force that is metal, and the unwavering dedication of the faithful to make themselves heard, despite any obstacles or adversities at hand. Although this is Hellraiser's first album, it's easy to tell that this 3 piece have been playing music for quite a while. I'm sure a lot of this had to do with the rigid conditions of Soviet society. Shit, when keeping yourself fed and out of suspesion is a daily challenge, I'm sure there werent a great deal of musicians to hook up with. Especially when you're a musician with a desire to play a style of music that your government thinks is subversive and American. I suppose with the Berlin wall falling a year earlier, and the Soviet Union on it's last legs, Hellraiser had it's best chance to release this album.

I love the construction of this album. The sleeve was obviously made from the cheapest most flimsy cardboard avaliable, yet the record is a heavy 180 gram slab of wax. The artwork is pretty cool, and the whole layout looks like it was probably put together by the band themselves, complete with the address to their own fan club on the back. The production is very clear, but for some reason, almost sounds somewhat distant. Each element is very easy to pick out though, and work well together, even with the many complex arrangements offered on the album. The main influence here is defenitely Metallica -ie: the first song begins with the same first line as 'Blackened'- but the influence seems to be mostly in sound and not composition. There are only 7 songs on this LP, but each is filled to the brim with well thought out riffs and transitions. The vocals arent bad, and thankfully, he doesnt try to ape Hetfield very much.

I imagine this isnt the easiest album to find. I dont know if it's avaliable on CD or not, I bought my copy on vinyl at a whim. If you like Xentrix's 'Shattered Existence' but hated the vocals, then you'll probably enjoy 'We'll Bury You'. If for nothing else, it's a great piece of metal history, and shows a different side of Russian metal than Master provides. Hellraiser are just 3 normal guys playing thrash. No costumes, no soaring falsettos, just pure thrash from the Eastern Bloc.