Artist: Raise Hell 
   Title: City Of The Damned
   Label: Black Lodge

After a 3-year hiatus Raise Hell have returned with their new release 'City Of The Damned' and with a change of label are now signed to Sweden’s Black Lodge Records.  The band see this as a a bright new beginning for the band and the beginning of the future for Raise Hell.

This is the bands fourth full length album under the Raise Hell name and I think their strongest yet.

The album opens up with ‘Devils Station’, a hard hitting bass ridden track that hits home straight away with the intense vocals of Jimmy Fjallendahi making their presence felt from the off.

Unlike other bands of this genre Raise Hell don’t let the music drown out the vocals and the vocals don’t in their turn distract you from the music.  All of which makes you want to listen to the album in its entirety as a listener and not to skip through it hoping you'll find something you like.

The album continues with the title track ‘City of the Damned’, another fine example of musicianship in harmony with the vocals and both delivering at times some pure brilliance.

The faster tracks like ‘Like Clowns That Crawl’ deliver some intense guitar work by Jonas Nilsson.  The band show a mellower side of their nature with ‘Reapers Calling’ but again retaining that menacing vocal content.

My favourite track off the album has to be ‘To The Gallows’ with its stirring bass lines and pounding drums its races along with out losing any of its melody or intensity.

All in all this album is a great peace of powerhouse metal that I’m sure will bring the band back to the forefront of the metal scene not only in their native Sweden but all over Europe. 

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